


Opposite Sides of the Tracks

by KizuKatana



Category: Naruto
Genre: AU - Modern Setting, BAMF Uzumaki Naruto, Drama, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mutual Pining, Romance, Slash, Slow Burn, Switching, narusasunaru
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-28
Updated: 2014-05-11
Packaged: 2018-01-21 03:30:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 77,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1535993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KizuKatana/pseuds/KizuKatana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Naruto and Sasuke come from opposite ends of the social strata. Sasuke is heir to the Uchiha business empire. Naruto is just trying to survive childhood. But they are more alike than they realize. When both their lives get ripped apart, the bonds of friendship they forged as children explode into something else entirely.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Bonds

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Naruto, and make no money on anything I write on this site.

**Author's note:**

This was the first fanfic I ever wrote and posted. I usually just write for my own enjoyment, but I finally decided to just... go for it and put one up.  This story is complete and has 10 chapters.  The first two are showing their background and relationship when they are younger, but the steaminess does not start until they are 20, so don't worry that it says 'hard yaoi' and first chapter shows them as kids.  No hard yaoi as kids in anything I write ever.

 **Disclaimer** \- I don't own Naruto - Masashi Kishimoto does, unfortunately

**Yaoi (boyxboy) - story is for 18+ readers only.  Homophobic readers hit back button now... you will not like anything I write ever.**

**Some additional warnings**... there will be some dark stuff. Not crazy dark, but Naruto has a seriously fucked up childhood (maybe a little worse than in the manga), and really bad stuff happens to Sasuke as well. Not for young readers. Violence, abuse, murder, rough sex... you get the idea. Oh, and I swear a lot. I mean. A LOT. Sorry. It is what it is.

...

Uchiha Sasuke looked over at the sleeping form of his blond, bronzed lover, tangled in twisted sheets on the king-sized bed in the hotel room. The man lay unmoving, seemingly dead to the world. Sasuke smirked. He had never felt better in his life, despite that his head hurt and his whole body ached from the previous night's exertions and excesses. He tried to name the emotion that he felt swirling through him, but his brain was still not back to being fully functional, passion and alcohol having basically shut that organ down for the past 12 hours. Though to be honest, processing emotions wasn't his strong suit under the best of circumstances.

Images from the prior night flashed through his head, slamming one after another. He felt his skin heating again just at the memories. He smirked again when he thought about what Naruto's reaction would be if he went and woke him.

An intense satisfaction and sense of accomplishment swirled through it all. He tried again to put into words in his own mind how he felt. About all he could come up with, until his brain started actually working again, was:

_Finally! Fucking_ _**finally** _ _! Why did this have to take so long to happen? Why had we been such idiots and not gotten here sooner?_

He thought back to the incident 10 years ago that had first brought them together, and formed the first unbreakable bond of their friendship. Back when he still had a family. Back when they both still had homes.

...

"Hey, guys. What's up?"

 _Uzumaki Naruto?_ Sasuke could barely connect the distant, casual sounding voice to his back-row classmate. He would have been probably the last person in the school that he would have thought would come to his rescue.

"Get lost, loser. Can't you see we're busy here?" Sasuke didn't need to open his eyes to identify the speaker as the biggest of the 8 boys surrounding him.

"Yeah, I see what you're busy with. What – you asked pretty boy here on a date and he turned you down?" Naruto seemed oblivious to his imminent death.

"Fuck you. Last warning. Get lost now or you're next," the leader of the group of middle-schoolers that were currently beating the crap out of Uchiha Sasuke said.

"What did he do to you guys anyway? Usually he just minds his own business and heads back to his kingdom to study ruling the world. Doesn't bother with us lesser beings," Naruto continued, seemingly unperturbed by the threat. Sasuke tried to move his arms, to see if either of them would start working again anytime soon. The pain was going to make him throw up, but he had to get up. 2 on 8 was certainly better odds than 1 on 8. Though both odds kind of sucked.

"That's exactly it. We're going to make him see that he can't ignore us. That he's not better than us. Now get the fuck lost!" The biggest of the eight landed another kick to Sasuke's stomach as he had begun pulling himself to his knees, causing him to almost pass out with agony.

"Nah. You're showing him you're just a scaredy-cat pussy who needs seven of his little girlfriends to talk to the boy you have a crush on," Naruto continued, voice sounding completely calm and even a little dismissive.

 _Is he trying to commit suicide?_ Sasuke thought in foggy bewilderment. No one sane would seriously take these guys on all at once. Naruto was only ten; three months younger than Sasuke. And Sasuke had at least an inch and a few pounds on him as well. These guys were all at least twelve or thirteen, and over-sized for their age.

All thoughts of beating up the Uchiha faded into a haze of red as the pack leader launched himself at Naruto with an incoherent bellow of rage that only a teenage bully can truly manage. But Naruto was ready for him and dropped him to the ground with a short, sharp punch to his crotch. As the boy lay on the ground in a silent scream of agony, all hell broke loose as the rest of the pack attacked. Fists, grunts, and feet were flying everywhere. It was not a pretty fight. There was little grace in any of their movements, but in the end, only Naruto was standing. Sasuke looked in amazement through his one eye that was not swollen shut.

"See… here's the lesson in all of this," Naruto said panting. "No matter how much life has been kicking the crap out of you guys, you shouldn't go picking random fights with people. Because you never know when you are going to run into someone who has had the crap kicked out of him even more, and learned how to fight back."

The older boys were starting to pick themselves up slowly from the dirt, but they didn't look enraged anymore. If anything, they seemed… wary… about what Naruto was going to do. He had clearly earned their respect, at whatever level 13-year-old delinquents could respect anything.

"I don't know about you, but I plan on pulling myself out of this shithole someday," Naruto continued conversationally, as though they were not mortal enemies. "Academics ain't gonna be my path, I'm guessing, since half the time I can't even afford the stupid text book. But maybe fighting could be, as long as I don't get arrested and totally fuck everything up by getting a record." Naruto was hoping some of what he was saying would sink in on these guys… they seriously need to course correct. "You had some good moves. I'm gonna be pissing blood for at least a week with those kidney shots you landed. If you are serious about fighting, maybe we could… start a sparring club or something. Get the anger out and build up skills without doing stupid shit to innocent bystanders who have families that could seriously fuck with our futures." It was the first time Sasuke had ever heard himself referred to as innocent. He was in too much pain right now to process how he felt about that, though.

"You mean… like a dojo?" one of the kids asked, sounding hesitantly intrigued.

"Well, I don't have a building to use, so it wouldn't be a proper dojo. But yeah. We could practice and work out and maybe when we are 16 get actual jobs in security, like bouncers. Or a bodyguard," Naruto said. Sasuke wondered if he was seriously trying to engage these guys, or just trying to diffuse the situation and give them a way to save face so they didn't just come back with more friends.

"Or a spy!" One of the former bullies said a little dreamily.

"Look. I come this way pretty much every day after school," Naruto said. "Think about it, and let me know."

They looked at him, then glanced at their leader. He nodded, and they turned and headed off. Naruto stood casually until they were out of sight. Then he groaned, clutching his stomach as he fell over next to Sasuke and dry heaved.

"What the hell? I thought you were alright!" Sasuke looked frantically down the now empty alley where the pack of boys had disappeared. Thankfully it remained empty.

"Are you kidding me? I just got the crap kicked out of me by eight guys that outweighed me by at least 30 pounds each! Fuuuuuck!"

"Man, you swear a lot. But, if you were that hurt, then… why…"

"It's all about respect. If they saw me go down hurt, we'd be right back where we started from. Law of the jungle, dude. You don't mess with it." Naruto lay there for a while, feeling along his own ribs and abdomen to assess the damage.

Sasuke thought about what Naruto had just said. His father had told him something similar, though using very different language, in describing how he ran his business empire. The similarity in philosophy struck him as odd, and he smirked a bit thinking of what his father would say to that comparison. But the core approach was the same. Never show weakness.

"What were you doing out here anyway? I thought your family usually sent a limo or something to pick you up after school. And your 'side of the railroad tracks' is definitely in the other direction," Naruto was still flat on his back, talking without actually looking over at Sasuke.

"Why would you notice what I usually do after school?" Sasuke sounded annoyed. Embarrassed? Naruto couldn't imagine Mr. Perfect ever being embarrassed. There was nothing embarrassing about losing a fight to 8 older kids. That was just reality, but maybe he couldn't accept that anyone could do something better than him. Even if it was something low class like brawling in the street.

"Geez. I just totally saved your ass from being pounded into the ground. The least you could do is thank me. Everyone notices what you do. You're like school royalty. All the girls fantasize about you asking them out, and most of the guys fantasize about just being you."

"So what do you fantasize about?" The question gave Naruto pause.

"Eating your lunch. Damn, you always have so much food packed in that thing, it is just ridiculous. And you throw most of it out! It's just not fair. You should see the shit I have to eat for lunch."

"Most days you don't even have lunch," Sasuke said quietly, slowly forcing himself into a sitting position, hissing out a breath. "Usually your friends just share parts of theirs."

Naruto looked down, suddenly embarrassed and uncomfortable. Why had Sasuke noticed that? He had never even talked to the boy before. Sasuke sat with the rich kids, with his perfect hair, perfect face, and perfectly pressed uniform, and basically just froze people with his icy glare who tried to suck up to him. Naruto had never even tried to talk to him. What could they possibly have in common? They lived in different worlds. He sat with the jocks, and focused on being the entertainment. He was good at sports, any sport, and used that to gain unquestioned acceptance. He went through a lot of trouble at school to hide the big ball of shit that was his life. He was finally in a new school where people didn't know that he was an orphan with a seriously messed up past, living in a shitty foster home with six other foster boys, a creepy foster mom, and no money. He didn't want pity. He didn't want people interested in his life or past.

"Look, you must have a fancy cell phone or something that you can call your family and have them come get you, right?"

"Yeah." Sasuke pulled out his phone (which was, as expected, a cool and sleek looking piece of technology), and called. There was a brief and formal exchange on the phone. "They'll be here in about 10 minutes. Anyone I should call for you?"

"Are they gonna be pissed because your uniform's ruined?" Naruto ignored the boy's other question, and Sasuke took the hint and didn't ask again.

Sasuke looked down at his clothes for the first time. His white button down shirt was torn and bloody. So were his pants. His tie looked salvageable, though. "Nah… I have others."

He noticed Naruto was not wearing his uniform, instead sporting an orange tee-shirt with black sweatpants and sandals. He didn't even seem to be carrying it, since he didn't have his book bag with him either. Sasuke mentioned it.

"Yeah. I walk this way every day, like I said. And I don't have a spare, so it's better if I change and just leave my uniform at school so it doesn't get trashed."

Sasuke thought about the implications of that. And what Naruto had said about getting the crap kicked out of him frequently.

"It's just an act with you, isn't it?" he said, quietly.

"What do you mean?" Naruto sounded slightly defensive.

"The whole class clown, happy-go-lucky thing you do at school. It's just an act."

"Whatever, Uchiha," Naruto shrugged, looking annoyed and uncomfortable. "Look, I think those guys are done for the day. I'm going to go wash up. You ok here by yourself?"

"Yeah, sure. My ride will be here any minute."

"Kay. See ya in school." Naruto turned and started walking away.

"Oi, Naruto!" Sasuke called out, and the blond boy stopped, but didn't turn around.

"Thanks," Sasuke said it quietly, but clear enough that he knew the word would carry the distance. Naruto just shot his hand in a mock salute and kept walking, still without turning around. Despite the pain in his face, Sasuke grinned.

It took a moment for Sasuke to realize Naruto was heading back in the direction of school, which was five blocks back in the opposite direction from where he had motioned when he talked about his home.

...

It ended up being closer to 15 minutes before the driver found Sasuke, who had managed to finally stand up and brush off the majority of the dirt from his clothes. He could have laughed at the absolutely stricken expression on his driver's face at this sight of him.

"Who… who did this to you?!" The outrage in his voice amused Sasuke further.

"A bunch of middle-school drop-outs. Don't worry… they got theirs handed back as well." Sasuke briefly described what happened.

"Where is this boy, this classmate of yours? I am sure your father would like to thank him appropriately."

Somehow, Sasuke instinctively knew that Naruto would hate that. His father would take one look at Naruto, and treat him like some servant who had performed above expectations, but still a servant. Sasuke rebelled against that at some fundamental level. True, his father felt that _all_ people were below the Uchihas. But he didn't want Naruto categorized and classified in the same way his father did everyone else. Sasuke didn't spend any time thinking on why that was.

"Drive over past the school before we head home," Sasuke told his driver. His driver neither asked for a reason, nor hesitated to follow the directive.

As they pulled onto the street where the side entrance to the school was, Sasuke told the driver to stop. Naruto was just coming out of the side entrance. His clothes and hair were dripping wet, but he was clean. Clearly he must have showered and washed the blood off himself and his clothing in the locker room.

_Why didn't he go home to bathe and change?_

From his vantage point half a block away inside the car, Sasuke watched as Naruto climbed up a utility ladder that was attached to the side of the building and provide access to the roof for maintenance. The blond boy reached the top, and clambered somewhat stiffly onto the roof then disappeared from sight.

Sasuke waited for 30 minutes. The incessant glances to his watch were the only signs of his driver's impatience that the man dared show. After a while, Sasuke realized that Naruto was not coming down. The weather had been unseasonably warm, so it was doubtful the wet boy would catch a chill. Evidently he had opted for sleeping on the roof, rather than returning to his home. Sasuke wondered why.

Sasuke told the driver to take him home, and thought about that during the ride. Naruto had blithely offered up to the pack of bullies the fact that he walked that way home from school every day, so it was clear that he was not trying to avoid them. What could be so bad at home that he would choose to sleep on a roof rather than face it, if he could face 8 older kids bent on pounding the shit out of him?

His own family was cold, and hard. His father was unyielding, and his brother was a prodigy. His mother was the machine that kept the family going smoothly. There was not an abundance of warmth, but there was some degree of caring and comfort to be had in it all. What would it be like not to have that?

...

His father's reaction to his appearance and the explanation was not all the different from the driver. Uchiha Fugaku blustered and raged, and demanded to know the names of the children who had done this. Sasuke didn't know, fortunately. Somehow he was glad to not have him step in. But his father did insist on knowing the name of the boy who had helped his son, and said he would speak to the child's parents to thank them personally. Sasuke managed to convince his father to speak to the principal instead, without mentioning what he had surmised about Naruto's home situation.

"Naruto is not the best student in school. Getting the principal to look favorably on him with a commendation from you will probably do him more good." Sasuke was tied for top of his class with Nara Shikamaru, a boy from another wealthy family. Naruto wasn't at the bottom, but he wasn't in the top half either. His father agreed, knowing that his son had played on his sense of self-importance, but also trusting his son to have good reasons for choosing this course of action.

...

Sasuke arrived at school early the next morning, his father going in to see the principal. Sasuke had no desire to tag along. Instead, he made his way around to the side of the school, just in time to see a rumpled orange T-shirt heading in the side door on the back of a boy with spiky, golden hair. _So he had spent the night sleeping on the roof of the school._

Sasuke turned back and headed in the main entrance, ignoring the gasps and questions when people got a look at his face. The swelling around his eye had gone down, but there was no hiding the deep bruises and cuts.

He walked to class and sat down, pulling out his notebook and handing in his homework. Naruto came in about 5 minutes later, wearing his uniform. He looked at Sasuke. "You ok?"

"Yeah," Sasuke answered, but didn't elaborate. He had two cracked ribs, and stitches in his right hand (he had actually managed to land quite a few blows before Naruto showed up, but 8 on 1 had been just too much). Naruto glanced down at the stitches on Sasuke's hand.

"It was totally worth those to land some on them, yeah? Teeth suck, though. They're hell on your knuckles," Naruto commented.

Sasuke smirked. It had been totally worth it. And somehow he was glad that Naruto knew he hadn't been totally useless in the fight.

Naruto's own bruises and cuts seemed to have healed remarkably faster than his own, despite his father having called their private doctor out to the house and having every medical ointment the man could come up with slathered onto the cuts and bruises. People seemed to hardly notice the faint shadows of the bruises on Naruto's face.

Their exchange had been short and quiet, and gone largely un-remarked by their classmates as everyone assembled for start of class and was digging in their packs for their homework to hand in.

Naruto answered Sasuke's smirk with his own grin and sat down in his desk at the back of the room, digging through his pack.

Sasuke turned to his right and met the level gaze of Shikamaru. Who raised one eyebrow and nodded towards Naruto. "He do that to your face?"

"No," Sasuke didn't elaborate. Shikamaru was smart. He didn't have to spell things out. It was one of the things Sasuke liked best about him. Shikamaru looked over at Naruto, thoughtfully.

...

As usual, Sasuke sat next to Shikamaru for lunch. The rest of the normal group was at their table as well… Ino, Sakura, Neji, Choji…. each generally following their parents' edict to begin networking with other 'important people' as soon as they were out of diapers to continue their family dynasties. It also helped avoid the ass-kissing that happened in general when they hung out with anyone outside their circle.

Sasuke looked over at the table where Naruto usually sat. His friends were all there - Lee, Kiba, TenTen. No Naruto. Sasuke frowned slightly. He had seemed ok in class. Better than Sasuke had felt, actually. So where was he? Sasuke looked down at his bulging lunch bag.

Shikamaru looked at him with raised eyebrows for the second time that day when Sasuke pulled a second bag out of his lunch bag and stood up.

"Looking for someone?" Shikamaru asked, glancing over to the table Sasuke had just been looking at, confirming Naruto was not there.

"Whatever," Sasuke said, walking away.

Shikamaru didn't say anything further. He watched his friend head out of the lunchroom and turn down the hallway that led to the side entrance of the school.

Sasuke climbed up the utility ladder and pulled himself onto the school roof. He saw Naruto, laying on a small workbench, with his shirt off in the heat.

"Oi, Naruto… you ok?"

He walked over to the boy, and realized he was asleep. Unsure of what to do, Sasuke used the unexpected opportunity to study the tanned blond boy. He saw the purple and black fresh bruises that covered his torso, and felt a twinge of guilt as he knew they were on his behalf. But there were other, older, yellowing bruises. A lot of them. All over.

Naruto's body looked different to Sasuke from those of the other boys in their grade. Naruto always took care to change in the shower stalls in gym class. It wasn't totally unusual. There were several boys who were either shy or physically inadequate in some way and changed in the stalls to avoid taunting. Kids were cruel. It was fucking Lord of the Flies.

But Naruto had no physical inadequacies. On the contrary, his body looked strangely adult to Sasuke, despite being slightly smaller than his own. The muscles in his arms and abs were clearly defined, even at rest. Even his pecs had some definition. Most kids their age still had a fine layer of baby fat that concealed this. But Naruto's body looked more like Sasuke's older brother, Itachi, when Sasuke had seen him working out in his room with his shirt off. Nothing to hide with either of those bodies.

 _Must be hiding the bruises_ , Sasuke thought, feeling a little numb at the idea. He felt a slow anger build up in him at this idea. Naruto, laughing and joking around at school. Naruto, coming to help some kid he hardly knew and taking a beating for him. Naruto, going home to god knows what and getting the shit beat out of him by a faceless someone. Frequently enough to have bruises every day to have to hide when he changed to avoid notice. He clenched his fists, feeling impotent rage wash over him.

But Naruto wouldn't like someone seeing him here, vulnerable, bruised and exhausted. He had come up here to hide and lick his wounds in private. Pride was something Uchiha Sasuke understood well. He set down the bag he had brought up with him next to the sleeping boy, then turned and quietly went back down the ladder.

As soon as the dark haired child had disappeared from sight, Naruto opened his eyes. Self-preservation had made his instincts sharp, even when he was sleeping. He had awoken as soon as Sasuke's foot had touched the roof. But he hadn't wanted to deal with a conversation about what had happened. Hadn't wanted to find an expression of pity on the older boy's face when he had seen Naruto's body.

He looked down at the brown paper bag, and slowly picked it up and opened it. Inside were rice balls, sweets, and a juice box. And a note:

_Dobe. You need to eat more. - S_

Naruto's stomach warred briefly with his pride. But he was a 10-year-old boy with no lunch. Stomach won, and he munched down the offering the other had left. Somehow, the gesture touched him. Despite the fact the words they had exchanged after the fight were the only ones they had ever shared, he felt somehow a sense of friendship with the other boy. One that was more real than what he had with the people he actually spent the most time with in school.

To be continued...


	2. Blown to Hell

**Author's note:**

This chapter will cover almost 6 years of time, so it starts when they are 10 and ends when Sasuke turns 16.

It also goes pretty dark at the end (in case the title of the chapter did not give that away). As an FYI, Yakuza is basically the Japanese equivalent of the mafia.

And yes, there really is a martial arts technique called the vibrating palm. I am not making an oblique reference to masturbation (that will come in a future chapter). :-)

\- xXx -

The next day at school, things were pretty much back to normal. Sasuke and Naruto greeted each other with exchanged looks, but other than that kept to their usual circles of friends. They hadn't talked about it, but there seemed to be some sort of general understanding that they weren't going to go blathering to everyone exactly what had gone down. And once they both realized that the other one was staying quiet as well, they both relaxed.

After school, Naruto played basketball with Lee, Kiba, TenTen and a few others from their group, while Sasuke, Shikamaru, and the rest of their set were picked up and shuttled to private cram schools or tutors to ensure top marks.

Naruto was heading home along his usual route, when he saw four of the boys that he had fought with leaning against the entry to the alleyway. One was the big one that had seemed to be the leader. But there were six new faces that he hadn't seen the last time. That made 10. To 1.

 _Fuck._ Naruto made sure to look directly at them, and walk at the same steady pace making it clear he was not afraid of any possible confrontation. As though to him, the outcome was a foregone conclusion.

"So… is it go time again, or did you ladies just decide to have a little tea party here for me so I wouldn't get lonely."

The biggest one just burst out laughing as one of the boys next to him handed over a wad of bills. "Damn, Blondie. You've got rocks the size of grapefruit, don't you? We had a bet going here on whether you'd turn tail and run, or try to take us all on. Looks like I won."

The boy who lost the money grinned at Naruto, levering himself away from the wall and walking over to him. He had not been at the fight before, but somehow he seemed to be in charge of the group. "Look, were you serious… what you said to these guys last time?"

Naruto tried really hard to not just sag all the way to the ground in relief. Locking his knees, and putting on his cockiest expression, he said, "What – about the sparring club? You pansies wanna learn how to fight for real?"

"Bitch, please. From what I heard, you barely limped off against 8 of us and there are 10 now. But… yeah," the older kid shrugged. "A lot of what you said actually made some sense. Those rich kids go to cram school and tutors to get trained for what they need to do. I figure… this is like cram school for kids like us. For the shit we need to learn. I'm Sora. I'm the best in our group. But I could get better. I think we all could."

Anything that didn't lead to his ass getting kicked hard twice in one week sounded good to Naruto. "Ok," he thought for a minute about how they could actually do something like this. "Then, we need a place to do this without someone calling the cops on us. My school is just back a few blocks this way. We can use the rear athletic field for practice. It's not visible from the street, and no one hangs out much there after school."

So it began. It was awkward at first, with all the posturing that insecure boys do and no one really knowing how to really teach a class, or organize a group.

"So – how are we going to do this exactly?" Naruto asked. "Should we just start attacking each other, or talk about what we know, or…"

"Let's just go at it, but not full force. If one of us does something cool that people want to see what we did, we can stop and do a slow mo' demonstration," Sora seemed to have some idea on how this could all work without anyone actually getting killed.

Naruto hardly noticed that he was all bruised up again. But there was no blood and no broken bones this time. And it was fun to actually fight without being afraid.

\- xXx -

Sasuke noticed the bruises right away the next morning. As they headed out to lunch, Sasuke called out to him.

"Naruto."

Naruto stopped, and motioned a curious Lee and TenTen to go on head with Kiba.

"Hey, Uchiha. What's up?"

The dark boy just raised an eyebrow, and motioned to the blond boy's bruised face.

"Oh, this? Maa, it's no big deal. Sora was just showing me some kind of chain punch thing…"

"Sora?"

"Yeah, he's sort of the leader of that group of kids that we tangled with. Only he wasn't actually at the fight that time, he was off jacking a gas station or something probably." Naruto quickly sketched out what had happened on his way home the other night and the subsequent birth of the club.

"Usuratonkachi. I can't believe you are seriously doing this," but Sasuke looked at him considering. "Are you guys going to meet every night?"

"Maybe. Last night was our first one. We'll see who shows up tonight. In any case, following through with the idea is way better than me getting pounded into a stain by them for the second time this week."

"Hn," Sasuke conceded. He was actually rather impressed that Naruto had been able to pull this off. He was almost never impressed by people.

When Naruto sat down next to his friends, they all jumped on him about why Sasuke would actually talk to him. Naruto didn't know how Sasuke would feel about him talking about the fight earlier in the week, so he skipped that and just said that Sasuke had asked about his bruises, and Naruto told them about the "dojo".

Lee was in ecstasy. "That is awesome! I will definitely be there tonight! We can train all night and just go right back to school! And do it all over again each day!" He was standing on the bench shouting, fist held high. There was only a brief lull in the lunchroom talk before everyone went back to eating (such passionate outbursts from Lee were not unusual). Naruto always secretly wondered if Lee's mother somehow continued to accidentally mistake pure caffeine powder for salt when she made Lee's lunches.

Kiba just rolled his eyes. "Leave it to Naruto to find an even worse set of people to hang out with. First Uchiha, now this. You guys are all going to end up either in juvie or in the hospital."

TenTen just looked thoughtful, but kept her peace.

After school that day, Lee showed up as expected. What was less expected was TenTen appearing with a large black duffle bag. Naruto had seen it stuffed in her locker but never knew what was in it.

TenTen solved that mystery by flinging it open to reveal an absolute assload of weapons: knives, chains, kamas, nunchucks, even two katanas. All the boys stood gaping at the display.

Sora was the first one to get ahold of himself. He walked almost dreamily up to TenTen, looking first at her, then her bag. He reached out and grabbed both her hands in his. "When you and I are both no longer jail bait, you are **_so_** going to be my woman."

Everyone laughed. Except for Sora and TenTen. Who both looked speculatively at each other.

\- xXx -

The following Monday after school, the informal group were just getting started when Naruto turned to see Sasuke and Neji walking up.

"Um… you guys aren't here to rat us out, right?" Naruto looked nervously from Neji to Sasuke.

"What the hell? These two don't belong here. They should be off with their fancy tutors learning greek or something," one of the older kids said, blustering a bit.

"Hey," Sora walked up to them. "I'm Sora. You're a Hyuuga… judging by your eyes. And you must be an Uchiha. You look a lot like your brother."

Sasuke blinked. "You know Itachi?"

"I don't claim to know him, but I know what he looks like," Sora turned to the rest of his group. "It's ok. These guys can stay if they want. Given their families, it probably makes sense that they do a bit of the academic stuff and a bit of our kind of stuff."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Naruto asked bluntly. "Aside from getting jumped by a bunch of you assholes waiting in an ally, why should guys like these have to worry about learning to fight?"

Sora literally paled. He turned slowly to Naruto. "Are you saying… are you actually saying that it was one of these two that got jumped that day?"

"Yeah. Sasuke was just –"

Sora turned and went over to the bigger kid who had been the one to start the fight that day, and punched him hard in the face with a following blow to the gut. "You idiot! Are you trying to get us all killed? Do you have any idea who that kid's father and brother are? Shit, we are so dead. Shit, shit, shit!" Sora looked like he was going to hyperventilate.

"Sasuke-san… I want to sincerely apologize for any inconvenience my _idiotic_ friends caused you," he walked over to Sasuke, who for once was looking at a bit of a loss for what to do.

"Jeez, Sora, calm the hell down. Why are you so worried about him? He's cool. Besides, don't you want to say sorry to me, too? I had two cracked ribs from that shit," Naruto said, feeling confused.

"Yeah, sorry, whatever, but your family isn't connected to major Yakuza syndicates the way these two are. If you get pissed, you'll just take a shot at me and we'll have it out. If these guys get pissed, me and everyone I ever knew could end up filleted and rolled into sushi at some gas station somewhere. Not the same fucking situation, if you get my meaning."

There was complete silence as everyone turned slowly to look at Neji and Sasuke. Neji, for his part, didn't look surprised at this proclamation at all. Sasuke, to anyone else, didn't seem surprised either. But Naruto had seen the small widening of his eyes and tightness around his mouth. _He didn't know. He had no idea his family was working with Yakuza_.

"Whatever," Sasuke said. "I didn't tell anyone who you guys were. Let's just get on with this. How does this all work?"

Sora nodded slowly to Sasuke, respect and relief clear in his features. "Ok, so here's how we do this."

After the ground rules were explained, they had Sasuke and Neji demonstrate the styles they were trained in. Neji's family practiced a form of kung fu that relied on the _dim mak_ (death touch) that they had developed from an older style called the vibrating palm to their own style, the gentle fist. It relied on striking pressure points and meridians in the body to kill or incapacitate someone with less that typically lethal force. Neji said there were some strikes he would not be allowed to teach, since they were family traditions, but the basic ones he could show. After completely paralyzing everyone several times in a row, none of the others could reproduce the precision targeted strikes, so they agreed they'd practice at home on themselves a bit until they figured it out, then try again.

Sasuke had been trained in kendo, using swords and kicks to take down many opponents at once. Evidently one of his ancestors had been a famous samurai, and the tradition had been carried down. The school had been renovating one of the locker rooms, so there were stacks of PVC pipe laying around. When Sasuke gave everyone a piece of pipe to use as a sword, they were all more than a bit shocked when he was able to take them all down in a matter of seconds.

"Shit, Sasuke! That is so cool! I never knew you could do that crap!"

"It's a good thing we didn't try to jump him in a construction yard," one of the other ones quipped. Sora shot them a level glance, reminding how lucky they were to even be breathing at this point, and the kid's mouth snapped shut.

At the end of the evening, they were heading out when a question popped into Naruto's head. "Hey, Sasuke, Neji. Where do your parents think you are, anyway?"

Neji and Sasuke exchanged smug glances. "Book club," they said in unison. Everyone burst out laughing.

Monday's were the only day of the week that Neji and Sasuke could join, given their tutoring schedules and family commitments. Also, any bruises incurred in these sessions would be long faded by the weekend, which was the only time when their busy parents would actually have time to see them, so the illusion of 'book club' could be maintained.

When Sasuke got home, he immediately called his brother.

"Itachi."

"Sasuke," Itachi's voice sounded slightly surprised. It was rare that Sasuke would call Itachi. They'd see each other on the occasional weekend when Itachi was back from school, but they had grown somewhat distant over the past two years.

"Are you coming home this weekend?"

"I wasn't planning to. Why? Did something happen?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. Although I was going to ask you that, instead."

"Explain, please."

"I don't think we should talk about it on the phone," Sasuke said flatly. Their father had instilled the very real idea that e-mails and phone calls were not private. Sasuke was probably the only kid in school who didn't use facebook. He was beginning to finally understand why that was the case.

"That's disconcerting. Do I need to come home right now?" Itachi lived in Tokyo, which was about 3 hours away.

"No. Could I come to see you this weekend? Or we could meet somewhere and talk. I don't think this will be a short conversation, so having you come here after midnight when we both have school the next morning won't work," Sasuke said.

"You have my full attention now. I don't think I want to wait until the weekend for this conversation of ours. I'll pick you up from school tomorrow. We'll go somewhere and talk."

"Itachi – don't tell father you are coming. I don't want him to know about this."

There was a silence at the other end. Then finally, "I am very interested to find out the topic of this conversation."

"Business associates," Sasuke offered.

"Ah. Then yes, let's not discuss this further here. I will see you tomorrow."

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At lunch the next day, Naruto saw Sasuke head for the side door. It was the first time he had ever gone there on his own, as far as Naruto knew.

Frowning, Naruto grabbed a bag of chips from TenTen's luch (who puched his arm, but let him take them) and headed out after him

He saw the older boy disappear onto the roof just as he started up the ladder. He wasn't totally sure if Sasuke wanted to talk, but after the revelation last night, he thought it might be good to just check in on him. When he came up on the roof, he met the other boy's eyes. They were wary, but a flash of relief showed as well. He had wanted to talk.

"You ok?"

Sasuke didn't reply at first. Then, "You heard what Sora said about my family."

"Yeah… you didn't seem to know about it," Naruto wasn't sure where to go here, knowing it was sensitive territory.

Sasuke's eyes flashed. "Did you?"

"Nah. If I had known you had Yakuza connections, I totally would have tried to be friends with you earlier. I got no chance of getting a job at Uchiha Enterprises, but Yakuza I could definitely –"

"Pfft, idiot," Sasuke relaxed a bit. It was nice, somehow, to know with absolute certainty that Naruto didn't want anything from him. He had no ulterior motive for being his friend. He just… was. It was a unique experience for Sasuke.

"I called my brother last night."

"Yeah? What did he say?"

"We didn't talk about it over the phone, but he is coming today to pick me up."

Naruto waited, letting Sasuke find his words. "I know that my father is ruthless. Somehow, it didn't really surprise me to find out that he would be involved in that kind of stuff. But Itachi –" He broke off, searching for the right words.

"You really love your brother, huh?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke shot him a glare, but then shrugged. "He's one of these… unbelievable people. He is good at everything. He's just… amazing."

Naruto smiled. "Yeah, I met one of those guys recently."

"Usruratonkachi. I'm nowhere near my brother," but Sasuke was blushing slightly at the comparison.

"Anyway, it's just…. I know money is money, and working with Yakuza is just another route to a different sort of market. But I know some of the things they have done. I just never thought my brother would be capable of that kind of thing."

"So what are you going to say to him?"

"I don't know. I just have to figure out where I stand on this," Sasuke blew out a breath.

"Huh?"

"Well, when I get into high school, I am going to be expected to take a hand in the family business. I never really worried about it at all before. I mean… it's not rocket science or anything. But I have to decide. Either I play ball with the Yakuza, or I don't."

Deciding to quit playing ball with the Yakuza would be a very dangerous decision. Naruto suddenly realized what Sasuke was facing.

"Sasuke…" Naruto tried to think of what he could do. "Sasuke, look. I know I don't have much in terms of resources or connections. But if you ever get into trouble, you can come to me. I can hide you or help you or… fight or whatever. As much as I can, I've got your back. Whatever you decide on this."

It felt awkward, like some weird declaration, but Naruto just wanted to be sure he got the idea across.

Sasuke looked down at his hands, red staining his cheekbones for the second time since they came up on the roof. "Thanks," he said. "We'd better head back to lunch, before people think we're up here making out or something."

Naruto burst out laughing at that. The idea of Sasuke making out with anyone, when he never even looked twice at all the girls practically lifting their skirts at him seemed almost impossible.

"Alright, let's go."

After school, Naruto watched Sasuke get into a sleek black jaguar. He couldn't see the face of the driver, but the hands looked strong and slender, and Naruto assumed it must be Itachi.

"So… what happened that had you calling me to discuss business associates?"

"Good to see you too, Nii-san. Ok, so let's cut to the chase if you want. Is it true that our family works with the Yakuza? Both you and father?"

"Who told you this?"

"I asked first."

"Who told you this?" Itachi's face looked grim. Sasuke knew he would not say anything until Sasuke answered his question. He thought a bit, about how much he really knew his brother, how much he could trust him. He thought about what Sora said, that if he had told Itachi about what had happened, they would have been killed.

"You are taking a long time to decide whether to answer my question, little brother. There was a time when you would have answered anything I asked without hesitation."

"There was a time when I thought I knew you, Itachi. When I knew where you stood and where your boundaries were," Sasuke could not see how Itachi's face paled at his words.

"Before I answer your question, Itachi, I need to know that you not go after them. I need to know that you will not harm them in any way, or have someone else do it for you. I need your word."

Itachi was silent for so long, Sasuke began to wonder if he would even answer. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel. Abruptly, they pulled into a parking lot of a grocery store, away from the entrance where there were no other cars.

"And you think that such a promise is necessary? You think that I have become the type of person who would kill someone just for talking to my brother?"

Sasuke could see the anguish now in his brother's features, something he could not recall ever seeing before.

"I just… I don't know what to think. You have always been the person I looked up to. You always make the right choices and do the right things. I don't know how the brother I know could be the same person as the one who has been hiding from me that our family is working with the Yakuza."

"Just tell me, Sasuke. Please. I will answer your questions as much as I can, but I need to know who is getting to you. You could be in more danger than you could possibly understand."

At that, a flash of anger seared through Sasuke. "Well no shit I can't understand, especially if no one tells me about it. What, you think I am just too stupid to talk to about this? Too weak? Fuck that, Itachi. Don't act all hurt because you feel like I'm holding out on you. You've been holding out on me for a hell of a lot longer, and evidently about far more important things."

"No, Sasuke," the anguished look flashed across Itachi's face again, deflating the anger out of Sasuke somewhat. "It's just… I wanted to keep you out of this, until father came to his senses. I was hoping I could just protect you from this, because once you get involved, it is almost impossible to come out the other side. Please, Sasuke. Just tell me and trust me."

Itachi looked his brother in the eye. After an excruciating pause, Sasuke made his decision, and told Itachi the entire story. He noticed the anger tighten his brother's jaw at the description of the first fight, and he knew on some level that Sora had been right about that. Luckily, Sasuke was able to continue the story and Itachi relaxed a bit, though his jaw still clenched when he ran his hand over the still-red scar that the stiches had left on Sasuke's knuckles.

"Now you know everything. Now it's your turn, Itachi. Tell me what our family is involved with."

Itachi did, though Sasuke knew instinctively he was holding back. Itachi confirmed that their father had made gestures to several of the Yakuza factions, at first simply doing legitimate business with illegitimate partners. But it had started to go deeper, and Itachi also hinted that their father might be trying to play one off the other, though he wouldn't name names.

"It is a stupid, dangerous game that he is playing," Itachi said, his voice deceptively emotionless. "Sasuke – this kid, Naruto. Do you trust him?"

"Yes," Sasuke said at first without thinking, then – at his brother's raised brow – he thought about that statement. Sasuke didn't really trust anyone, except Itachi. They were raised from birth to not do so. "He's somehow not like anyone I have ever met. He has never asked me for anything. And he helped me when he had nothing to gain. He is… like me, somehow."

Itachi was pensive. "Maybe in the end, this will turn out to be a good thing. I trust your judgment more than anyone else's, Sasuke, so I am going to give you some advice. If you get into real trouble, or if something happens to me, go to Naruto. He is someone who is off the radar for both our clan and the Yakuza, and he knows how to handle himself in a tough spot, even though he is still young. It is hard for people like us to have real relationships, real friends. People always something from us."

"Itachi," Sasuke felt a feeling of foreboding at his older brother's words. He didn't want to think about what 'if something happens to me' could really mean.

\- xXx -

It was their last year of middle school. The group from their dojo had gone strong gaining and losing members as kids went to high school or the older ones who got after school jobs. Naruto had become the defacto 'sensei' of the group, seeming to have tireless energy and interest to learn the techniques and styles of the transient membership. After a couple of years, he even had been able to use some of the pressure point attacks that Neji had taught him TenTen's weapons still made him a bit nervous, though.

Sasuke and Naruto kept mostly to their own circles. Sometimes Sasuke would walk by when Naruto was making out with some girl behind the school and Sasuke would roll his eyes, but generally they kept to themselves. Every once in a while, though, by silent agreement, they would end up having lunch together on the roof. Sometimes talking about some girl Naruto decided that he liked (Sasuke never reciprocated in these discussions, and usually just ended up calling Naruto an idiot), or talking about plans for the following year, or just sitting in silent companionship.

The end of the year approached. Kids had been studying like mad to try to get in to the top high schools, and everyone was feeling the pressure. But exams were now mostly done, and all that was left was to wait and see where everyone placed. It was not unusual to see the occasional freak-out, with the combinations of hormones, family expectations, and insecurities.

But nothing could have prepared Sasuke for seeing Naruto's face that morning after he took his seat and was about to open his pack.

Naruto looked ghastly. Sasuke's eyes widened in shock as he took in Naruto's pale complexion and visible shaking. Even their teacher noticed his condition.

"Naruto, are you feeling alright? Do you want to go to the nurse's office and lay down? We can call your mother if you –"

"NO!" Naruto shouted, literally flinching when his teacher had said the word 'mother'. The class fell silent, and Naruto struggled to get ahold of himself. Sasuke felt like he could literally see the enormous ball of fear Naruto was trying to swallow as he watched the younger boy's throat convulse, before he pasted on a truly horrid smile and claimed he was fine. Sasuke wasn't sure which shocked him more. The fact that Naruto was so shaken up, or the fact that he seemed to be the only one in the room aware that this kid was in mortal fear for his life.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

At lunch, neither boy even made a pretense of joining their usual set of friends. Naruto headed straight out the side door and climbed up the small ladder. He was somehow relieved to see a dark head appear over the wall shortly behind him.

They just looked at each other for a few minutes. Naruto's eyes full of shame and anguish and fear. Sasuke's with helpless worry.

"Tell me," the older boy said quietly.

Naruto just shook his head mutely, still shaking, then abruptly fell to his knees, dry heaving, the muscles in his forearms corded and beaded with sweat He was glad he didn't have any breakfast that day. He sat there on his hands and knees for several minutes, shaking, then slowly sat back on his heels. Sasuke sat down beside him, and simply waited. Tentatively, Naruto reached out for his hand, like a small child. Sasuke held it calmly.

Naruto began to speak. Stammering at first, then it all just poured out in a torrent. About how his foster mother only takes in male children. About how she always selects one who will be her 'special' child, and she calls him the 'man of the house'. And that child stays with her, in her room. In her bed. Usually she waits until the boys are 16. "She says she likes a man, not little boys," Naruto whispered. Then he fell silent.

Sasuke stayed silent, not saying anything… keeping hold of Naruto's hand.

"Then yesterday… last night… I had… a fever. And I got sick. And so I got up in the night, and went to take a shower and wash off… and she came in. It was 3 in the fucking morning, and it was like she had been waiting… She just looked at me for a while. She was looking at… at… my…" Naruto flushed, and gritted his teeth. Sasuke squeezed his hand lightly.

"Then she said 'You've been keeping secrets. Showering at school.' And I… just stood there, in the shower, like an idiot. Letting her look at me. I just… I didn't know what to do… and then she… she said," he paused, swallowing hard. "She said that I was already more man than she'd seen in a long time. And she kept looking at my… ugh… my skin was just crawling… and so I just grabbed my pants and shoved her out of the way and ran out of the house. I spent the rest of the night up here, until they unlocked the school." It had been cold last night, Sasuke remembered.

"Sasuke…" he sounded small and miserable. "She's not going to wait until I am 16. I don't think… I don't think I can go home again."

Sasuke's throat was constricted with rage. More than anything, he wished he could somehow just open a vortex and throw that bitch directly into hell. He couldn't manage that, but he could do the next best thing.

"Naruto," he began, as a plan began to form in his mind. "What would happen if she were to die, unexpectedly. What would happen to you and the others?"

Naruto gave a weak laugh. "I know, right? How perfect would that be…" His voice trailed off as he finally looked up into Sasuke's face. The hairs on his arms and back of his neck slowly stood up.

"Wait, woah… your… your fucking _serious_ aren't you?"

"Most people don't even know we're friends. You could stay at school, surrounded by witnesses. It would happen and no one would ever know it wasn't just a random act of senseless violence."

"Sasuke… you can't… you can't just go around killing people. Even if they totally suck."

"That's what you think." He said flatly.

"Shit! Leave it to a fucking Uchiha to say something like that. Seriously!"

"Seriously," Sasuke said calmly.

"Look, Sasuke. You are amazing. You are genius smart, connected up the ass, and like – the hottest guy on the planet. Your life is going to be totally amazing. You cannot go fucking it up by doing something stupid like murdering some crack whore foster mom."

"I wouldn't necessarily have to do it myself. If I have learned nothing else from my father, it is that enough money can solve absolutely any problem."

"Seriously, don't. I really appreciate it. I can't even tell you how much I appreciate it. But the fact is, that there are actually worse foster homes to be in. I have been in a few. She is sick, yes, and it is disgusting, yes, but why do you think none of the other boys have ever turned her in before? At least she treats the younger ones ok. If one of her boyfriends comes home and beats on us, she throws him out. And she doesn't touch the little ones, or pimp them out. This is just how life is for people like me. And it would totally kill me if my messed up life spilled over onto someone like you. I don't want to live with that kind of shit. My only real choices are to either just suck it up and go back home to play house, or run away and stay off the radar until I am 18 and she can't do anything."

"There's no way in hell you are going back to that house," Sasuke said flatly. "And what do you think happens to 14-year-old runaways, anyway?"

"Look. If I have to sell my ass to some pervy old hag, I can at least do it in Tokyo where I could make a hell of a lot more money."

"Pffft. That isn't even funny."

"You laughed."

"Look… maybe you could stay with me. I could ask my Father to –"

"No. Sasuke… when I go, they're going to look for me. At least a little. If your dad gets dragged into this, either he's going to get dragged through the mud for hosting some under-aged runaway (and don't think the tabloids wouldn't have field day with that), or he'd come out and say what she's doing and all the kids there would be thrown back into the system again landing into god knows what hell hole. I have to just disappear until I'm 18. I'm almost 15 now, then I'll be able to get a job."

Sasuke raked his hands through his hair, trying to think of some alternative that would keep Naruto from vanishing from his life. Some way he could protect him.

"Ok. Let me just… let me just think about it for the rest of the day, and see if I can come up with a better plan. Promise me…" Sasuke paused, and cleared his throat. "Promise me that you will come to my house before you disappear. Promise you will at least say goodbye."

"Sasuke," Naruto turned to face his friend. Black, tormented eyes stared into blue. "Thank you."

Without thinking it through, Naruto reached his hand into the older boy's hair, and drew his face down and kissed him. It was a short kiss… and they both jerked apart.

Sasuke's cheeks flamed, and Naruto felt an answering heat in his own.

"What… what was that for?"

"Well," Naruto grinned cheekily, despite the shaking in his hands. "I figure that after today, I have no idea what the hell is going to happen to me. If I have to sell my ass into prostitution, I at least wanted to kiss the person who I like best before all that shit happens."

Not waiting to see if Sasuke was going to push him off the roof, and still trying to figure out why the hell he had kissed him in the first place, Narurto hopped over the side of the building and swung onto the ladder, racing back into the lunchroom just as everyone was starting to gather up their stuff to head back to class.

Sasuke stood on the roof for a few minutes, cheeks still tinged pink. He closed his eyes briefly, remembering the kiss. Then he heard the first bell ring. "Usuratonkachi," he mumbled, hurrying down the ladder and into the building.

At dismissal, Naruto was nowhere to be seen, but Sasuke pulled Neji and Shikamaru aside. "Hey. How much cash do you think you could get me this evening without your parents asking you what it's for?"

Neither boy asked Sasuke why he needed it. They both had seen Naruto this morning, and wondered what was going on. They assumed the crisis, whatever it was, had something to do with him. And neither was averse to helping.

When Naruto showed up at Sasuke's house it was 7pm. He had no idea what he would say if Sasuke brought up that insane kiss. He had tried on his way over to figure out why he had done that. There were two really good reasons NOT to have done that. One, Sasuke hated any form of physical contact. Despite being completely worshipped by every girl in school (and probably some of the boys), as far as Naruto knew he had never had a girlfriend. Never let anyone touch him. Two, Naruto liked girls. A lot. He had been dating since he hit thirteen, and even though he hadn't woked up the nerve to actually have sex with one yet, he had gotten pretty close to it. Close enough to know for sure he liked girls and all their associated parts. But there was just something about Sasuke that had always drawn him. And in that moment on the roof, when Sasuke had stood by him, he had just reacted. It was in his nature to be physical and affectionate. He blew out a breath noisily. And in the grand scheme of things, he had way more serious shit to worry about now than the fact that he'd just kissed his best friend.

He had timed it so he would have just a short amount of time before he would have to leave for the train station. He didn't want to draw this out, it was going to be painful enough. He raised his hand to knock at the door when it was thrown open by Sasuke.

"Let's go around to the back of the house," Naruto said. "I don't want anyone who works here to see me, in case the police come asking."

They walked over to a stone table that was under a canopy of trees. The sun was starting to go down.

"So…" Naruto said awkwardly. "You told me to come and say goodbye before I left. I guess… I guess this is it, for a few years."

Sasuke just looked at him. "What are you going to do?"

"I thought about it some more. I'm going to Tokyo… try to get a job somewhere. If I can work over the summer and save up, I might even be able to go back to school in the fall. Not sure how to work it with my test scores though, since I can't exactly go around using my real name. I'll have to figure something out. Maybe try to take a make-up test under a fake name or something."

"How can I contact you?"

Naruto tried to fight the rising sense of panic. He felt like he was stepping off a cliff. All he had was the clothes on his back, his uniform, and his sketch book. There was no way he was going to risk going back to the house for anything else. Not that he had much anyway. But it was terrifying to not be able to answer a simple question like that. He grinned, trying to hide his sudden panic. "Well, you know, maybe I'll just ring up the Prime Minister and ask him if he –"

"Naruto, stop. Just stop. You don't have to pretend with me. I don't want you fucking pretending with me," Sasuke looked pissed.

Naruto blew out a shaky breath. "I know I don't have to with you. It's weird, you know. We didn't really talk that much, or hang out that much together. But somehow… somehow to me, you are… the only person who I think actually knows who I am. And honestly, I have no idea how to handle this. But I don't do scared very well, so I was just going for obnoxious, because I do that much better."

"Pffftt, that's for sure." Sasuke pulled something out of his back pocket, and handed it to Naruto. Naruto saw it was a thick envelope, and tensed up.

"No. No, Sasuke, thanks but I don't want this. That's not why I came here, I don't want –"

"I know that, you idiot. Just shut the fuck up and take it already. It's not just from me. It's also from Neji and Shikamaru. Look, you'll be doing us a favor. If you leave here with no money, you'll just end up whoring yourself all over Japan, leaving a wake of obnoxious blond bastards behind you. As future leaders in this society, we decided to try to head that off at the pass as much as possible and pay you to NOT have sex."

"He he. Thanks. Tell them thanks. I didn't expect this. It isn't why I…"

"I told you already. I know that," Sasuke sighed a little shakily, pushing the envelope into Naruto's hand. "You are probably the only person on this planet who doesn't want something from me. And I am going to miss that like hell. Just take care of yourself. And find a way to let me know that you are still alive every once in a while. When you get a break in your busy whoring schedule."

They just stood there, looking at each other. Naruto finally turned, and loped down the driveway. "Later!" he called out, and disappeared into the night.

A week later, Sasuke received a garish post card in the mail. The photo on the front looked like the Tokyo red light district. The housekeeper looked at him strangely when she handed it to him. He flipped it over to read it:

_Teme. Made it to Tokyo. Thanks to your preventative contraception donation, have not had to sell my ass yet. Found a cheap place to sleep, and am looking for work. Don't get knocked up this summer. Is bad for your grades in high school, I'm told. Will write again by your birthday. Love from your Tokyo 'ho._

He felt a presence over his shoulder, and looked up to find Itachi smirking. "Looks like he landed on his feet."

\- xXx -

It was July 23rd. Sasuke looked at the clock. 10am. The mail should have arrived by now. He knew Naruto would be sending him a note for his birthday. Sasuke smirked a bit. Every few months for the past year, Naruto had sent him a postcard, letting him know he was still alive. He walked down their long, curved driveway and opened the mailbox, pulling out a particularly gauche post card. He read delightedly, still standing at the mailbox:

_Oi, teme. Thanks again for saving my ass. Haven't had to sell it yet. Loading boxes in a shipyard. Smells like shit. Will be going to school again, though. Happy Birthday. Your Tokyo Ho'._

"Pfft. Usuratonkachi –"

Sasuke felt an incredible pressure, then heat and noise and the next thing he knew he was waking up face down in his driveway, somehow still holding onto his birthday note from Naruto. He slowly got to his feet, wondering why it was so silent. He could see police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances, speeding down the road. But they were not making a sound. He felt heat washing over his back, and slowly turned around.

Devastation. Utter destruction. The entire mansion was literally blown apart. He thought of his mom, making a special lunch for his birthday in the kitchen. His father, in his office, working from home that morning so he could be with him. His brother, who had come home last night for his birthday.

There was nothing standing. No sound. Nothing moved, except the gouts of flame and billows of smoke. Sasuke just stood there, staring. He saw people come running. A man with a medical jacket seemed to be talking to him. Lips were moving. But there was no sound.

A brigade of firefighters ran past pulling a large hose. Still absolute silence. Sasuke just stood there, completely unable to move. Someone was pulling at him, trying to get him to walk somewhere. Sasuke shook the arm off roughly, eyes boring into the pile of rubble that had been his home. The arm came more firmly, and realized he was fighting with all his strength now to get them off, trying to make his way back to his house. To find his family. He felt a needle go into his arm. Then nothing.

. . . . . . .

Naruto was loading boxes at the shipyard, when his boss slapped open the mornig newspaper and started reading. Naruto stared at the headline, his blood freezing in his veins. "Uchiha Financial Magnate Killed in explosion with family."

The box he was holding hit the ground. "Hey, kid! Watch what you're doing. What?"

Naruto didn't respond, he just picked up the paper the man had thrown down and read through the article, desperately hoping… " _elder son missing but presumed dead, younger son hospitalized and released into protective custody…"_

"I have to go," Naruto said blankly to his soon-to-be-ex boss.

"What? Where?"

"To Konoha… I have to…"

"If you walk off now, don't bother coming back. You're lucky I hired you at all, with no ID and no references. Don't you think…"

But Naruto was already running down the loading dock.

. . . . . . .

Sasuke didn't even remember the two days passing. He stood numbly through the funeral. He had put his foot down at having a funeral for Itachi. Somehow, he wasn't willing to believe that his brother was actually dead. Not until they found his remains.

He was vaguely aware of people coming and going around him, murmuring condolences. He stood next to a distant uncle, whom he had never even met, surrounded by body guards. After a while, everyone had gone, and his uncle had retreated. Sasuke stood inside the family crypt.

He felt a warm presence standing next to him, and without looking, knew his friend had finally come. "Naruto."

"Sasuke… I came as soon as I heard." It was the first time they had seen each other in over a year. They stood in silence for some time. Sasuke slowly felt life seeping back into him. His mind cleared and his eyes focused for the first time since the explosion.

Naruto watched the transformation overtake his friend. Watched the slow hardening of the eyes and face, the grim determination steal over his features.

"Sasuke… whatever you plan to do, I will help you."

Sasuke turned to him, cold rage flooding through him. "My father is dead, so there is no way to punish him for his mistakes," Sasuke's voice was flat and cold, and the hairs stood up on the back of Naruto's neck. "But I am going to find out who killed my mother… and I am going to kill them. And I am going to find out what happened to Itachi."

Naruto slowly nodded. "Do you know anything beyond what is in the papers?"

"Nothing that you don't already know."

"Sasuke, be careful. If it is Yakuza, and you go asking around..."

"Do you think I don't know that?"

"No… I know you do. Just… let me handle this. It will take time, probably a lot of time, to find a way to get in and find out what happened. But let me start looking. They will know you on sight, and they are definitely going to watch you. But I am nobody. I'm already completely invisible and off the radar. I can get in where you can't. And I have nothing to lose."

Sasuke looked at his friend, narrowing his eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but snapped it shut again as the door to the shrine opened and the police guards came in, noticing Naruto for the first time. "Hey, who are you? No one was supposed to be in here with Sasuke-san."

"Don't worry. He's a classmate from school. He was just leaving."

"Sasuke, how-" Naruto had been about to ask how he could contact him, but the sharp look Sasuke threw him made him realize that they needed to play this casual in front of others.

"Yeah, I was just paying my respects. See you in school, Sasuke. I've got to go work on my report. It's due on my birthday, in the usual place at the school."

Hoping Sasuke got the message he was trying to tell him, Naruto headed out without looking back. He walked as though he had somewhere to go. Then he realized he did have somewhere to go. Back to Tokyo. But this time, he was not going to stay clear of the shadows. He had to become a part of them.

_To be continued… (if you enjoyed, please comment or fav!)_


	3. Into the Shadows

**Author's note:**

Please note that as Sasuke and Naruto become more adult, there are more adult themes that are coming in here, so I am just reminding you all that this story, as advertised, is not for young teens.

\- xXx –

On his way out of town, Naruto stopped by the site where the Uchiha estate had stood. He looked at the remains of the mansion, now surrounded by police tape. He thought back to how it had looked on the night more than a year ago when he had come here to say goodbye to Sasuke. His stomach twisted as he remembered how Sasuke had been there to help him. But Naruto had been powerless to return the favor and shield him from this.

After several moments of reflection, Naruto pulled out three sticks of incense that he had brought from a shrine near one of the gyms he frequented, and placed them into the ground in a small row just outside of the taped off area of the ruins. He carefully tied a small paper to each of them, with a traditional prayer inscribed on each. For Mikoto and Itachi, he had also added a note promising to look after Sasuke. Knowing what he did about Fugaku, he couldn't bring himself to do more than the bare minimum for Sasuke's father. He left the sticks burning, knowing the paper would catch fire and burn soon, and headed to the train station.

The three sticks burned down, and had almost reached the small paper prayers that were tied to them. The man who had watched from the shadows walked silently towards them. A strong but well-shaped hand reached down, and picked up the stick with 'Itachi' written on the paper tied to it. The figure read the paper, and put it in his pocket. He then placed the incense stick it had been attached to next to the one for Mikoto, watching the other papers catch fire and burn. He took one last look at the remains of his former home, and disappeared back into the night.

\- xXx –

Naruto had spent all his remaining money on the train ticket back to Konoha in his rush to get back in time for the funeral. To see Sasuke.

On his way back to Tokyo, he managed to stow away in the luggage compartment of the train, and he spent the cramped ride thinking about what he needed to do. First he'd go back to the loading dock and see if he could get paid for the days he had already worked. He had run off the day before payday, so had almost a full week's worth of pay owed him. He knew he couldn't count on getting the money given the way he had left, but it was worth a shot.

The boarding house where he was sleeping had made it clear that it was pay day by day, with no 'bill me later' options. If he didn't get paid, he'd just go by and pick up his stuff before they tossed it. After over a year, all he had to his name was a school uniform, two changes of clothes, his school backpack and a tattered sketchbook.

Despite his dire straits, though, he wasn't going to beg for his job back, and not just because the foreman had made it crystal clear that he wouldn't get it. His plan originally had been to play it safe, both in terms of where he slept and the jobs he took. He had just wanted to get by and go to school and try to scrape some sort of life together once he hit 18 and didn't have to worry about hiding anymore.

Now he had an entirely different focus. He would not be able to help Sasuke if he just laid low and kept his nose clean for the next 2 years. The best way to protect Sasuke was to find out who did this and take them down. But he'd need to get inside information on Yakuza activities to do that, and you don't get that by keeping your nose clean and laying low. But you also don't get it if you are dead, so Naruto needed a plan.

In his view, he could do two things well. He could fight, and he could draw. Neither of those required school to get better at. The drawing would probably be useless, but he had a good memory for faces and ability to sketch fairly realistic likenesses that could come in handy for capturing faces where a camera would get him killed. The fighting angle would be his best bet, though. He thought about it a bit, and decided he would look into night clubs and gyms that the Yakuza owned. He could apply as a bouncer, security, a fighter, or even a janitor. It didn't matter what.

Newspapers and tabloids would have rumor and sometimes facts about Yakuza operations. It would be a place to start. He would not arouse suspicion, since he was exactly what he appeared to be, mostly: a runaway with no money or friends or connections, and one or two useful skills. The topic of the Uchiha massacre was all over the news, talk shows, and bar room discussions. It was unlikely to fade anytime soon. He just needed to get into the right rooms to hear what was said, and what was not said.

The next day he swung by the dock and was surprised to have his old boss pay him most of what he was owed, giving him enough money to seep in the boarding house at least for the next two weeks. He spent the rest of the day in the library, looking through online newspaper archives and made a list of places to go and try for a job.

He took his list of addresses and pulled on his only clean set of clothes, a black tank top and some rust colored cargo pants. He washed his other shirt and jeans out in the sink and hung them on the bed rail to dry.

He tried the three gyms on his list first, but two were no longer open, and the remaining one that was wouldn't give him the time of day.

So he tried the nightclubs next. He knew his chances were even lower here, because you had to be at least 20 to work in a nightclub, and he didn't think he could not pass for that.

At the end of a very long and frustrating day, Naruto sat down on the steps of the rooming house, trying to figure out what to do. Nothing had panned out.

In a way, it didn't surprise him He had no real experience applying for jobs, and no resume or references. Even his ID was fake, and while the people administering the placement test for high school might have accepted it, it wouldn't hold up well to a full background check. He smirked a bit, remembering his spur-of-the-moment decision to stay in the food category with his name, so Naruto had become Menma.

His smirk turned into a somewhat embarrassed grin when he thought back to the closest he had come today to getting a job that day. It had been at one of the nightclubs on his list.

There had been big, guy with short, bleached out hair at the door. Assuming that this guy must be a bouncer, he just walked up and asked if they needed any extra security, or any part-time help.

_The man looked at Naruto, but didn't say anything._

_"Um… hey. Sorry to bother you, but I just wanted to apply for a job. Doing whatever."_

_Still silence. Naruto decided this approach was not working. "Look, I have nothing better to do than sit here and annoy you all day. So if you're down with that, then you can keep ignoring me and I'll just keep talking until you answer my question."_

_The guy turned to him, and gave him the 'I'm gonna kick your ass' look._

_"Hey, you want to kick my ass? That's fine… it could be like an audition, right? Maybe I get a job if I win. Look, man. I'm not afraid to take a beating, so I got nothing to lose by trying." Naruto realized it was probably stupid, but he actually was looking forward to the prospect of a fight. A chance to blow off some steam, and show some skill. He had been feeling pretty useless for the past year, just loading boxes, going to school, sleeping, and eating. And writing obnoxious postcards to Sasuke._

_The man's face didn't change, but amusement flashed in his eyes, and… understanding? Somehow Naruto got the feeling that this guy liked to fight, too._

_"Samui," the man called back into the club. "There's a kid here looking for work. We got anything?"_

_"Send him back, and let's see, Omoi," came husky female voice from the darkness in the club._

_Naruto walked in, mentally crossing his fingers. This was the farthest he had gotten in any of his attempts so far._

_He almost tripped when he saw the woman who had spoken. He was bad at guessing ages, but she looked like she was in her mid-twenties. She had blond hair and slivery eyes, but what drew Naruto's immediate attention was her absolutely anti-gravity figure._

_"Umm…." Naruto tried to force his eyes back to her face. "Yeah, I'll take any kind of work. I am good at fighting, if you need security…" He felt his eyes slipping down and snapped them back to her face, trying really hard not to blush like a little boy._

_Samui looked him over, noting how the tight black tank top looked on him with approval. His wild, golden hair and tanned skin were as unusual as her paler version of these, but his eyes were the most striking. She had never seen such a piercing blue. And they held a depth of force that was intriguing as well._

_"Hmm… maybe we could use you as a dancer in the pit. Are you old enough to drink?"_

_Naruto blanched at the mention of 'dancing.' He heard a laugh from Omoi behind him, who must have caught Naruto's expression. "Um… I don't really… dance. Is there anything else I could do for you?"_

_"So let me guess. You just fight and fuck," she said, clearly misinterpreting his last words, and she rolled her eyes as though she had heard that line a thousand times before. Looking at how her small dress positively clung to her perfect body, Naruto could believe it._

_"No, that's not... that's not what I meant. Um, actually…" He blushed, trying to stop from stammering. "I mean, I'm just sixteen, so I am not old enough to drink, and I'm still working my way up to the fucking part. I just fight. Pretty much. And, um… I can draw? But I could clean or move stuff, too... is what I meant." He wondered if that sounded as incoherent to her as it did to his own ears._

_At that, she threw her head back with a throaty laugh that made Naruto break out in a sweat. She was unbelievably hot. 'But totally out of my league in this lifetime,' he thought weakly, trying hard to control his hormones before his reaction became embarrassingly visible._

_"Well, for your age, you are actually pretty tall and really built…," she ran her eyes up and down his body, smirking a bit when she observed his physical reaction to her frank appraisal. "… and cute. Mmmmmm. I'll tell you what. When you work your way up to the fucking part in a year or two, why don't you come back here and make me an offer."_

_Naruto tried to think if there was anything he could say here that would not make him look like an idiot. He couldn't really come up with anything. "Um… ok?" Naruto swallowed hard, trying to find some way to end this conversation before he made even more of a fool of himself. It wasn't as if he had never talked to a girl before. He had had several girlfriends, but they had all been the same age as he was, and similarly inexeperienced. He had absolutely no experience with women like this: sophisticated, confident, and totally comfortable with their sexuality._

_Assuming that meant no job for now, Naruto turned and walked out the door. Omoi followed him._

_"Look, kid. What's your name?"_

_"Uh… Menma."_

_"Menma, huh? Ok, look. You seem like a pretty decent kid. We sometimes need extra security for big events. In a month we will be having an opening of a new floor to the club. Come back then and I'll see if I can get you at least some temp work," Omoi took a piece of paper out and wrote down the date._

_Naruto accepted the paper gratefully. A month was a long time away, but it was better than nothing. "Thanks, Omoi. I really need this."_

_The older man's eyes softened a bit at that. "I can tell."_

_Naruto gave a mock solute and headed off down the alley to the next stop on his list._

. . . . . . . . .

Naruto blew out a breath, trying to refocus his thoughts on next steps for himself. Not one to overthink major life decisions, he decided that if the job idea didn't work, and school wasn't sustainable without a regular place to live (which he could not afford without a job), he'd just go all the way down and try living on the streets in the neighborhoods where the Yakuza was most likely to operate from, and see what he could learn. Back in Konoha, he had only slept in his house half the time anyway. He'd avoid the business and 'fancy' parts of town where he was more likely to be picked up for vagrancy (and less likely to run into anyone who would be useful to talk to anyway). If he stopped spending money on the rooming house, his food money would last longer. Given that it was summer, and he was a teenage boy, he valued food much more than shelter.

. . . . . . . . . . .

Other people might feel afraid in the rough parts of a city, but Naruto felt at home. He knew how things worked there, knew how to read people and situations, and he could handle trouble if it came. He hung out in the neighborhood parks, joining games of pick-up basketball. His sense of humor and worn-out clothes put people at ease.

He went into some of the seedier gyms and asked if he could fight, and was more than able to handle his own. His style of fighting was a combination of highly technical moves and brute street fighting that tended to take even much more experienced opponents by surprise. And his ability to take some hard knocks and come right back up quickly earned him respect. Fighting skills were prized here, and after just a few days, he found people seeking him out to spar with, or just hang out. He at least got to use the showers in the gyms, and sometimes people would buy him lunch. He slept on the roof of one of the gyms if the night was clear, and under the awning of an entryway if it looked like rain. He didn't mind that people knew that, either. It just gave him more credibility.

He was resting after a game of basketball when a conversation caught his attention.

_"Hey, did you hear the latest in the Uchiha massacre?"_

_"Maybe… what did you hear?"_

_"I heard it was one of Orochimaru's crew who blew the house because the Uchihas were getting in too deep with Nagato's business dealings and he was afraid to be shut out."_

_"No way, my dad works for Orochimaru Sama, and there is no way he would be worried about that poser Nagato. His operation has been running way longer. Besides, I'd totally know if we'd done that."_

_"Ssh! Who's that kid over there?"_

_"Oh, him? Nah, his name is Menma. And he's cool. I think he's a runaway from somewhere, but you should see him fight. He's sleeping anyway. He doesn't seem to care about stuff like this."_

_"Did you hear…"_

Naruto kept his eyes carefully closed, and his breathing even, giving absolutely no external sign that he was memorizing every word. That night, on the rooftop, he sketched the faces of the two boys talking. The following morning, he went to a new part of town, and did the same thing again.

And he discovered that you could learn a lot in three months without ever asking a single question.

\- xXx –

Uchiha Sasuke sat behind the massive desk at Uchiha Enterprises. His father's desk. He knew that the executives of the company resented reporting to a 16-year-old. He couldn't care less. It was a family owned business, so they had no say in how it operated. And no matter what his age, he had a better instinct for the nuances of keeping the family empire together than any of this father's subordinates. Which was exactly what he intended to do.

He would have been nervous stepping into Itachi's shoes. He had never met anyone smarter or stronger than Itachi, and the only time he had ever felt insecure or inferior in his life had been when he had compared himself to his brother. But he was more than confident that he could easily take his father's place in this empire, and exceed him. His father had steeped both Itachi and himself in the business since they were young children, so Sasuke was already fluent in the operations and strategies of the company.

The Uchiha's were taught confidence and self-control from birth. No matter how strongly he wanted to lash out and take down the person who had killed his parents and maybe his brother, he knew that there was a sequence to it.

The first order of business was ensuring that the empire his father had built was kept intact. That power was what would enable him to eventually crush his enemies, and what would lure them to stay close in the meantime. He knew the vultures were circling with the death of his father. He needed to show people that he was at least as tough as his father, and there would be no manipulating him into anything.

Next, he would need to find out exactly who had ordered the execution of his family, what had happened to his brother, and whether he himself had been spared intentionally. He recalled Naruto's words at the funeral, and his fist clenched involuntarily. He made a conscious effort to flatten his hand back on the desk. He didn't want Naruto to be involved. He didn't want to be responsible if something happened to him. Naruto had nothing to do with this, and Sasuke wanted to keep it that way.

Even if Naruto was right in what he had said about how difficult it would be for Sasuke to look into this given the public scrutiny he was under, there had to be another way. Sasuke would find it, and make it clear to Naruto that his help was not needed. With that guy, he would have to be harsh, or Naruto would keep pushing. Sasuke knew Naruto in a way he almost couldn't explain even to himself. He knew how he thought, what drove him, who he was at his core. And he knew that Naruto felt loyalty to him, both out of genuine friendship and because of what had happened with Naruto's own family situation, and would throw himself headlong into helping his Sasuke. There would be no "arm's length" separation between Naruto and danger on this.

And that was absolutely the last thing Sasuke wanted. If Itachi was really dead, as they police kept insisting… _the combination of the blast and the extreme heat of the fire would have completely incinerated any remains in certain areas of the house, including your brother's room…_

If Itachi were truly dead along with his parents, then that left exactly one person left on this earth that Sasuke actually cared about. And he was not about to let that idiot get killed on his behalf. He had no way of getting in touch with Naruto, though. Presumably, he was using a different name in Tokyo, and staying underground. He had understood Naruto's thinly coded message telling him to meet on the roof of their school on Naruto's birthday in 3 months. But that still left Naruto doing god knows what in Tokyo until then. He had nightmare images of that usuratonkachi barging into some imaginary Yakuza meeting, asking everyone if they killed his friend's parents. The only thing that kept him sane, in a way, was Naruto's warning to him. He seemed to realize the danger of the situation. Hopefully, growing up on the streets had given the exuberant blond enough instincts that he would be ok.

The door to his office opened, and one of his senior vice presidents came in. She was young, pretty, and incredibly ambitious. His father had hired her right out of business school, and she had risen through the ranks with meteoric speed. There were a lot of rumors about which of her assets his father had valued highly enough to merit such a promotion. Sasuke didn't care. He had absolutely no illusions about the kind of man his father had been.

"Sasuke-kun," she said, an inviting smile on her lips. She had worn a short skirt, and her blouse was unbuttoned several buttons past respectable beneath the jacket of her suit. "I thought I'd sneak some lunch in for just the two of us. We could… have a picnic on the floor of your office, if you'd like."

Sasuke just looked at her coldly. Undaunted, the woman unpacked the bag of take-out she had brought and laid it out on the small table in his office. She leaned over the food, making sure that Sasuke had an unobstructed view clear down to her navel. "See anything you like?" she asked huskily.

"No," Sasuke said flatly. He paused, making it clear he was not joking. "Get out of my office. Don't come back unless you are invited. I have work to do."

Her eyes widened. This was clearly the first time that offering sex had not worked for her. "You know, Sasuke…. I know you are young. I don't know if you have much experience, but… it would be my absolute pleasure teach you everything you need to know." All she could think about was how incredibly sexy her new boss looked. Even if he was much younger, she couldn't wait to feel his hands on her body. This was going to be so much better than it had been with his father.

As if reading her thoughts, Sasuke said, "I am not interested in my father's leftovers. I have no interest in you at all, except in how you perform your job in this organization. If you are not able to perform professionally, then I will replace you. Get. Out. Now."

Her face flamed in indignation and humiliation. "You'll regret this!"

Sasuke just raised one eyebrow. "I doubt that. Do you have actual work to do, or was this your full-time job under my father?"

As she stormed out of the room, Sasuke pressed the button on his phone that connected him with his assistant.

"Karin, could you come in here for a moment? We need to discuss ground rules of who is allowed into my office."

Karin came in immediately, but she was not alone. A man who, except for his shock white hair and eye patch, looked to be about 30 came with her. Sasuke barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. Despite being with the man for less than a week, he was already annoyed by the overly-familiar and overly perverted person that the police had put in charge of his personal security team. Kakashi listened with an amused expression as Sasuke told Karin that if someone was not on his appointment calendar, they did not get into his office. No exceptions.

She walked out looking a little upset, but Sasuke was satisfied that she understood the rules. Kakashi, on the other hand, was not so easily handled. "That was pretty cold, Sasuke. I mean," he gestured to the food still laid out on the table. "She went through a lot of trouble to please you. It would do you some good to let her unwind you a bit. You're pretty up tight, and she looks like she really knows what she's doing." Sasuke looked again in annoyance at the surveillance cameras in his office. He understood that they were necessary, but it still irritated him

"Did you somehow manage to catch the people who blew up my home and killed my parents and I just didn't hear about it? No? Then I think you have other things to fill your time with than voyeurism. Unless you have something actually useful to tell me, don't waste my time."

Alone in his office, Sasuke focused on what he needed to do. If he did not let himself get distracted, he would be able to take over running Uchiha Enterprises and prepare for the placement test in fall that would hopefully eliminate the need to go back to high school. He was already ahead in basically every subject, and it would just be a matter of jamming the rest in before the test. Getting a business degree might not be totally necessary given he already owned and planned to operate a large business empire, but he would do it to ensure there were no questions on his capabilities. With his family connections and academic track record, he could get in to a program without actually finishing high school as long as he had tested out. Who needs sleep anyway? He could live on the promise of vengeance.

He just needed to get Naruto to give this up, so he could quit worrying about him.

\- xXx –

It was October 10th. Naruto stood on the roof of his former school, sitting on the bench that he had spent so much time on as a child. The sun was setting. He had been there since late morning. Sasuke had not come. He couldn't fucking believe it. He had come all the way from Tokyo (no small feat, given that he didn't even have enough money to pay for food some days), and that _fucking bastard_ could not even be bothered to come across town. And on top of all of that, it was his birthday. Not that Naruto did much to celebrate his birthday, generally, given his total crap of a childhood. But one of the things he had actually been looking forward to, in a way, had been getting to see a friend on his birthday.

And he hadn't even bothered to show up. Naruto sat down on the bench and blew out a breath. Whether it was that Sasuke had just let go of their friendship as the time had passed, or just felt that Naruto was not likely to be helpful in finding out what happened to Sasuke's parents, Naruto still felt betrayed.

He stood up and paced back and forth a bit, trying to figure out what he should do. But he realized that it didn't matter why Sasuke didn't show up. Naruto still wanted to help the friend he remembered, even if that friend had moved on, or shut down, or whatever the hell Sasuke was doing with himself now. He thought back to Sasuke's face at the funeral, frozen and emotionless, and completely destroyed. He felt his resolve harden. He wasn't doing this for Sasuke, exactly. At least, he wasn't doing it just to rebuild some sort of relationship with him, or to have Sasuke acknowledge him in some way as being useful.

He was doing it because quite simply he was tired of seeing life hand out shit to people and not be able to do anything about it. He wanted to take down whoever it was that would blow up a kid's family on his fucking birthday. They had clearly timed it that way to ensure everyone, including Itachi, was in the house. And how cold was that? And what if they were still trying to take Sasuke out, and just waiting until things had settled down enough and security got relaxed? Naruto was tired of running away or avoiding trouble, tired of simply waiting for fate to just run him down like a freight train. Even if Sasuke had no time or no interest in being his friend anymore. It didn't matter. He was going to find out who did it. And he was going to take them out. Then he'd figure out what he wanted to do with the rest of his life.

He tore a page out of his sketch book. On the off-chance that Sasuke might come here at some point to check for a message, he was going to leave him one. That is what he had promised he would do. He'd have to be careful of the wording in case anyone else found it, but he couldn't exactly just walk up to Sasuke at his work or his home and hand it to him with a full surveillance team still likely protecting him. Not if he wanted to stay off the radar.

_Asshole. Do you know how hard it was for me to get here? Whatever. I said I would have something for you today, so here it is. There are 3 bosses on the shortlist for who did this: Orochimaru, Danzo, and Nagato. As you probably already know, two you do business with, and one you don't. If you were here, I could fill you in more, but given I have no clue who will read this note, all I can say is the last two on this list are more likely than the first. I'm going to run with this by myself I guess, which is probably a good thing since your pampered ass would probably be pretty useless. Thanks for showing up for my birthday. Was great to see you._

Naruto folded the note and used a piece of the athletic tape he had in his bag to secure it to the under-side of the bench. If Sasuke came looking for something, the bench is where he would check. And if he never came, Naruto had still kept his word. And there was really no way to trace the note back to him, so the risk was minimal.

Naruto turned and headed back down the ladder, and made his way to the train station. He was not looking forward to another 3 hour ride in the baggage car, but there were few options.

For twenty minutes after Naruto had left, there was complete silence on the roof.

This silence was finally broken by the arrival of the figure who had stood in the woods for most of the afternoon, watching and waiting for Naruto to give up and leave. Sasuke reached under the bench and removed the note. He opened it, and scanned through the contents. His eyes widened in surprise at the first part of the content. He honestly had not expected Naruto to have gotten so far in such a short a time. Much farther than he himself had managed to get on this front, though he consoled himself that he was also trying to run a major business organization and finish school at the same time. But he knew that the truth was that Naruto had been right… it was going to be easier for him to dig into this than it would be for Sasuke, for the simple reason that Naruto was not being watched 24x7. It had been incredibly difficult for him to slip out unnoticed this afternoon (and he was not looking forward to what Kakashi was going to say when he got back). And Naruto also had a way to make people listen to him, and open up, which was probably another factor in his surprising success. He got to the bottom of the note, and felt his stomach clench as he realized that – rather than Naruto deciding to give up on this and move on to something else – Naruto was now just going to continue on alone.

"Fuck," Sasuke said succinctly. He quickly climbed down the ladder, and got into Itachi's car and drove to the train station. But he did not see Naruto anywhere amongst the waiting passengers.

He checked the schedule and saw that the last train to Tokyo for the night left in 5 minutes. He raced down to the track and looked in the cars, trying to see if he could find Naruto. He had to either talk him out of pursuing this, or at least go back to the way they had been, with periodic check-ins so he could be sure that his friend was ok. But he didn't find him, and the train pulled out while Sasuke stood and watched helplessly, knowing somehow that Naruto was on that train, but he had missed him.

\- xXx –

Naruto arrived in Tokyo after midnight, and sat down on the steps outside the train station, trying to think about what to do next. It was getting cold at night, and his model of sleeping in doorways and on rooftops was getting old. Plus he was basically out of money for food. His stomach growled, reminding him of that quite forcibly. He didn't want to steal. Even though none of the people he was currently hanging out with would think anything of it (in fact, most of them wondered why he didn't get more involved with that sort of thing anyway… there had been oblique invitations already). But he just didn't want to go that route. At some point, he wanted to be able to decide whether he wanted to re-emerge into mainstream society… finish school, get an 'on-the-books' job, get married or whatever…

But if he went all the way and became one of the Yakuza, then they would own him and there was no going back. And he knew instinctively that he didn't want that life. He was still trying to figure out options when a sleek black car pulled to a stop in front of him. He didn't pay it much mind, except to note that it was a BMW 5 series, and a convertible.

The window rolled down, and a woman leaned out.

"Hey, there. You look a bit lost," the woman's voice was soft, but somehow also confidant.

Naruto looked up into large silvery eyes (which reminded Naruto of Neji somehow), in a pale face framed by long black hair. The illusion of innocence that her large eyes might have conveyed was ripped away by the tight leather dress that she was wearing.

"I run an… online business of sorts," she said with a slow smile. "If you need a job and a place to stay, this could be a perfect opportunity for you." She ran her eyes over him appreciatively. "I think you would be a great addition to our 'little family'. How old are you?"

"Sixteen," Naruto looked at her, having no trouble reading between the lines of what she was saying, and what her 'online business' likely was. He thought through his options, which didn't take long since it was a very short list.

"So, what is this business of yours?" He asked, slinging his pack over his shoulder.

The woman smiled and pushed open the passenger door. "Why don't you hop in and I'll tell you all about it. Do you have anything else you need to pick up somewhere?"

"Nope. This is pretty much it," he said easily, standing up.

 _So much for not selling my ass_ , he thought, and walked over to the car.

_To be continued…._


	4. The End of Innocence

**Warning - THIS IS A YAOI(boyxboy) story.** If that bugs you, read something else. Adult content in this chapter (voyeurism, masturbation, language, mild het, lots of other inappropriate things... you get the idea and it is going to get progressively worse/better depending on your perspective with each chapter from here... this is a hard yaoi story) - not appropriate for young readers

**Author's note:**  This chapter will have my most OOC character (I bet you have already guessed who). And sorry for another extremely long chapter. I guess I should start splitting these in half or something?

 

\- xXx –

It was definitely the weirdest job interview that Naruto had ever had.

"You can call me Hinata-sama," the woman said, with a slight smile. "What would you like me to call you?"

Naruto noticed her phrasing, and assumed that she had correctly guessed that Naruto was not likely to give her his real name. "Menma," he said.

She laughed, "You couldn't come up with something more normal?"

"Well, my real name was food-related, so I decided to stay in the same category," he answered truthfully.

"Hmmmm. So, _Menma_ , what kind of trouble are you running from?"

Again, Naruto was not surprised that she had guessed this. Most people were smart enough to realize you don't live on the street by choice. And he felt no real reason to hide much from her. It's not like there would be a reward offered for him. "I didn't commit any crimes. I just need to stay off the radar until I turn 18."

"Yes, I remember needing to do something similar, when I was around your age. Probably for similar reasons. It's actually how I got into the business. How hard do you think your family is looking for you? Would they find you on an online site, if you didn't use your name?"

"Do you do child porn?"

"Never," Something in Hinata's expression told Naruto that she had some personal, bad history with this, potentially worse than his, so he didn't push her. "Age of consent in Japan might be 13, but I don't usually take anyone under 18. You look older than 16. If we decide this is something you are interested in, I would put your profile at probably 18, so if anyone did a search for you using your general stats, you would not show up."

"Then it won't be a problem," Naruto said. "So what does this entail? I don't have much experience in this kind of stuff."

Hinata quirked an eyebrow in slight disbelief. "With porn or with sex? I guess it doesn't matter. Our site is about fantasy and image, not about the act itself. There are twelve people in our house, each catering to a different taste. Each person has their own bedroom room, small living area, and bathroom. There are, of course, cameras everywhere. And I mean everywhere," she slanted Naruto a look, to be sure he understood. "Any in-person meetings with your viewers are arranged at your own discretion, and I am not involved with that part of it. You earn money based on a cut of what people pay to view your site. Your cut will be 25%. We test run for a week and see if you have any followers, and then decide whether it is going to work out or not. And that's it. I have very few rules around what you do to drive traffic to your site. Obviously, the more skin you show, the higher the traffic. If you bring someone back to your room, though, you have to let them know about the cameras. Most of our housemates go with 'self-service' demonstrations. Some bring in partners, and others just do normal activities but make them look hot. You should see Kiara polish the silver candlestick holders in her little maid's outfit. It is quite a performance."

"Hmm, I can imagine," he cleared his throat, trying to keep his thoughts on topic. "So, you're saying I don't actually have to have sex on camera. I just need to… do what exactly?"

"What do you like to do?"

Naruto tried to connect her question with his. "I don't know how to answer that question. You mean with girls?"

"I mean in general. Do you like to dance, read, play video games, what?"

"Well, I work out a lot... I'm pretty good in the ring, so I train at some of the martial arts gyms in Kabukicho and Roppongi (Hinata looked curiously at him as he mentioned two of the rougher parts of town). I like most sports, and play a lot of basketball. And I like to draw, I guess. It's been a while since I was able to think about what I'd like to do in my free time."

"Working out is good. And the fewer clothes you wear, of course the better. Drawing could be fine as well… we'd have to play it by ear. Are you in school?"

"Not anymore, but I want to go back at some point, once my life stabilizes a bit."

She simply nodded, again not judging. "One of the people in our house is pretty good at tutoring. It would be – interesting to see the two of you together. She has the whole sexy librarian thing going. So what do you think?"

They had pulled up in front of a stylish but otherwise normal looking house in a pretty decent part of Tokyo… definitely not the red light district.

"What side of the door would my room lock from?"

Hinata looked him squarely in the eye. "It locks from the inside. You are free to come and go as you please. Just let your viewers know your schedule so they don't get annoyed paying to view an empty room."

"OK. Well, this sounds a lot better than what my other options would be at this point. So... what comes next?"

"First, we'll introduce you to your housemates. Then you and I will talk about what role you think would work best for you, and I'll do a little shopping."

-xXx -

Naruto showered and changed into the clothes that Hinata had purchased for him. She had told him that the cameras wouldn't be turned on until after the photo shoot, so he took his last few moments of privacy to notice where they all were. In the shower, at the sink, over the bed, and 3 in the small living area. The only place that was 'video free' was the small room with the toilet. But Naruto had been warned that if he spent too much time locked in there, that could change. He assumed that meant that basically any jacking-off needed to take place in full view of the cameras. He hoped that the shower was hot enough to produce sufficient steam to cover him. But it was still better than actually getting pimped out. And jerking off was a healthy, normal activity for a teenage boy, anyway. He wasn't going to worry about it.

The clothes were pretty similar to what he usually wore - black tank top (a little tighter than his old one, but whatever), black thin cotton boxers and tan cargo pants. He was glad she hadn't put him in studded leather like one of the other guys in the house. But Hinata had only laughed when he had asked her about that and said that this worked better if the fantasy was close to the actual reality of the person. And Naruto, she had decided, would be a great 'sexy athlete' fantasy. His housemates included the 'naughty schoolgirl', the 'sexy librarian', 'bondage boy', and many others that Naruto met. He had been a unsure how to greet them, but most seemed to be pretty normal, given everything, only a few years older, and similar backgrounds in general.

Hinata knocked and came in. "All set? Good. Let me have a look at you." She came over and ran her fingers through his hair, ruffling it a bit more. He couldn't help but wonder how old she was. She didn't look like she was more than 3 or 4 years older than him, tops. But she already had her own businesses, and - judging by her car - a successful one at that.

"Still missing something," she looked at him consideringly. She pulled off the necklace from around her neck, a leather string with a blue crystal attached, and put it on him. "Perfect. Now, I am going to set up the lighting, and you should go lay down on the bed. Unzip your pants, and pull them down a little so they are just below your hip bones. And you can keep the boxers fully on. We won't do any nude shots." Naruto wasn't embarrassed by nudity, but he didn't want to just go all out and post pictures of his dick all over the internet, either. He left that sort of thing to the politicians. He had boundaries. Even if they were much farther out than most people's.

Naruto did as she directed, and she arranged the pillows around him so that he was more reclining rather than actually laying down.

"Ok, so now this is how it is going to work. The idea is to get pictures that capture the imagination. I am going to ask you to fantasize about something very specific, and I am going to take pictures of you while you do that. Viewers will look at these pictures, and imagine that they are the thing you are fantasizing about. For it to work, you have to get into it, and really focus. Make sense?"

"Um, ok. I think so."

"Ok, so first, I want you to think about someone that you find compelling and attractive, but inaccessible to you in some way. It can be anyone... a teacher, a friend that is 'just friends', someone else's lover... just someone untouchable, but desirable. Someone you think about when you don't want to. Someone you admire. Someone you think deserves better than you." Images of people flitted through Naruto's mind, but somehow he kept coming back to Sasuke's face.

"Are you thinking of someone?"

"I guess," Naruto felt a little uncomfortable... he probably should just pick some girl to think about, like he usually did when he jerked off in private, but there really wasn't one that fit the description that Hinata had laid out. He didn't think too much about why that might be.

"Good. Now close your eyes, and just focus on my voice. Every once in a while, I will ask you to look at me, but otherwise try to just follow my voice." Her voice had altered. Now it was low and intimate. Almost hypnotic.

"I want you to imagine that you are in the shower. Feel the hot water running over your body, the steam relaxing you. You have finished washing yourself, and you're feeling clean and relaxed. You are just enjoying the luxury of feeling the heat and total privacy of the shower." Naruto heard the sound of the camera clicking softly. "Look at me." Obediently, he opened his eyes and she took a few photos. "Close your eyes again. You feel a hand slide up your back, slick with soap. You turn around. It is the person that you were thinking of, your fantasy. You look at them... they are naked, in the shower with you. Look at their body... they are aroused, and looking at you. Looking at your body. You are alone with them in the shower, and no one will ever know." Naruto's breath caught, the image that was being woven in his brain shutting out everything else in the world. He swallowed, feeling the prickles of sweat break out on his brow.

"You feel their thumb rub against your lower lip. Their hand cups the back of your neck and pulls you closer. You feel their tongue lick your lower lip, then run down your jaw, to your neck where it joins your shoulder. Their hands grip your shoulders. You feel their teeth graze your neck." Naruto felt goosebumps break out all over his body, seeing Sasuke naked in the shower with him, kissing him. He had never, ever imagined anything as explicit as this. "Look at me." He opened his eyes. Click. "Close your eyes again. Your lover's lips are still on your neck, you can feel their tongue. You feel their hand, slide over your stomach, feeling your muscles there, sliding down, slick with soap." The muscles in Naruto's abdomen clenched, imagining Sasuke's hand sliding over his body and he let out a ragged gasp. He was hard as a rock.

"Their hand is almost on your cock, but they don't touch you yet. They slide both their hands to your hip bones. The soap make you slippery. You feel their lips moving from your shoulder, slowly down your chest. You feel a tongue circle your nipple. They keep moving down. You feel their lips on your stomach. Their tongue swirls hot and wet into your bellybutton. You feel their hands grab your ass, and they squeeze hard, kneading you. They tell you that they want you. Your cock is hard and throbbing for their touch." Naruto shifted, his hands fisting into the blanket. He had never been this turned on in his entire life, and no one was even touching him. He felt like he was about to come. "Open your eyes." The blazing desire almost knocked Hinata over. Click. Click. "Close your eyes. Their hands pull you closer to them, You feel your cock brush against their chest, and you hear them moan your name. Their voice is full of desire for you. You are the only one they want. They kiss down from your belly-button... you feel their tongue getting closer. Their hand curls around the base of your cock, and you feel their tongue swirl around your head, and then they plunge you in, taking your entire length into their mouth, which is hot and wet."

"Ugh, fuck!" With the image of Sasuke sucking him off, Naruto came harder than he had ever come in his life. He lay there for a second, panting, fists clenches in the blankets by his sides, and head thrown back. He hadn't even touched himself.

"Open your eyes."

Naruto did, laughing weakly. "Oi, Hinata-sama... you are really good at this. Holy shit. No wonder people pay for this kind of thing."

She just laughed. "Well, you didn't last very long, but you are still young. I am going to go print these out, and let's see what we can do with them." She looked down at his erection, which hadn't had time to go down yet, still forming an impressive tent inside his now clinging boxers. "I find it hard to believe that you have been walking around with equipment like that and still haven't gotten laid, but I am guessing that will change pretty quickly. And whoever this person is that you are thinking about... you should definitely try your luck. With desire like that, it would be a shame if it didn't work out."

Naruto's smile dimmed a bit, and he stretched his arms back behind his head. "Nah... it would never happen. His life has really taken off and I'm..." Naruto shrugged, not needing to state the obvious. "We're not really in touch any more, anyway. Um... so where can I do some laundry?"

Naruto didn't notice the slip he had made, the majority of his blood still being somewhere south of his brain. Hinata showed no reaction, just told him where the laundry machine was, and packed up her equipment and headed to her office.

She sat at her desk, looking through the photos she had taken, setting up his profile and website on their system. He was beautiful. He was this compelling combination of tough and sensitive. Gregarious and uncertain. Innocent and sexy as hell. Physically, he was slender but still well muscled - a typical martial artist's build. And his frame with its wide shoulders and narrow hips... she could make a fortune on this one. If she had met him as a young girl, she was quite sure she would have followed him around like a puppy. She had a feeling, though, that he was only here for a short stay. But that was ok. Maybe their next time around, in some other life, they would meet without being so damaged, and without him already clearly being in love with someone else.

Her initial impression had been that he was straight, more of a traditional jock. Hot, funny, but simple. But she realized that that characterization was not right. That was the front that he put out. She sensed somehow that he had a darker, more complex side. When he had opened his eyes just before he came and looked at her... GOD! The force of his passion for whoever it was that he was thinking about was unbelievable. This was no shallow infatuation. And his slip about it being a male... that was very interesting. Unexpected. And she usually had a pretty good read on someone's sexual proclivities. She always used gender-neutral language in these fantasy sessions, because hey, you never know. But she usually did know. Interesting. So not the shallow, good-time jock. Somehow, a little darker, with more mystery. She thought about it a bit more, trying to set the right tone in his profile and room. He had said he liked to draw. She wondered how he felt about tattoos. She smiled as she went about her business... creating a fantasy out of someone's persona.

Naruto lay there for a long time. He had never fantasized about Sasuke before... only girls he was dating or the occasional dirty magazine one of his friends had given him. He tried to process why this had been so much hotter than any of those fantasies. _What the hell was that_?

\- xXx –

July 23rd. It was his 17th birthday. He fucking hated this date. He thought about calling in sick to work, but that would just be weak. He would go, like any other day. And he would visit his mother's grave on his way home from work. He hadn't heard from Naruto since that god awful day in October, so he didn't expect to hear from him today, either. Since his disappearance for nearly half a day on Naruto's birthday, Kakashi had stepped up surveillance considerably. He was still pissed that Sasuke wouldn't tell him where he had gone, and also wouldn't tell him why he had been talking to the business partners connected with Orochimaru's and Danzo's syndicates so much more since then. He knew Sasuke had somehow learned something, but Sasuke wouldn't discuss it. When Kakashi had asked why, he had simply said that the police didn't give him the details of their investigation, so why should he? He also said that he knew that there was significant Yakuza presence in the police, so he would be a fool to trust them. It made perfect sense, but it still pissed Kakashi off. As much as Sasuke was an arrogant prick, Kakashi had begun to care what happened to him.

Sasuke got into his office late, and was surprised to see an enormously garish boquet of flowers on his desk. _Who the hell...?_ Karin was looking at him expectantly, clearly waiting to be told who they were from. He closed the door on her, and went over and plucked out the card. He opened it, and choked. Slowly he smiled, then grinned. Some of the ice that had settled in his stomach at the thought of this day dissolved away. Maybe... maybe he could face this after all. The card was clearly not standard issue for any florist. It was a picture of a woman kneeling down in front of a naked man, his head thrown back in an exaggerated display of ecstasy, the Tokyo skyline visible through the window behind him. Inside it just said: _Happy Birthday. Me love you long time_.

-xXx-

Within the first week of living in the "house of porn", as Naruto thought of it, he had figured out a schedule that seemed to work for both Hinata and his own plans to continue infiltrating the 3 Yakuza gangs he was focusing on. In the mornings, he would get up and work out for a bit (Hinata had adjusted his wardrobe to basically include only tank tops and loose, thin cotton gi pants... luckily it was warm in his room), then take a shower. He'd catch a bus downtown to one of the neighborhoods he had been frequenting, and he'd spend much of the afternoon there either training in one of the gyms or hanging out. Sometimes he'd swing by the library, and look through the newspapers and magazines to see if there were anything new on Yakuza activites or the Uchiha massacre. Or Sasuke.

At first the reporters seemed poised like vultures to see the icily handsome but arrogant teen fall on his face when he insisted on running his own company at such a ridiculously young age. When that didn't happen, and instead he showed considerable dexterity in the business world, they decided to shift gears and focus on another juicy potential topic - his sex life. Was he a virgin or not? Who was he dating? Was it someone in the office? Was it someone famous? The list of speculations was endless. Photos of Sasuke in these interviews had him generally just looking annoyed. Naruto had to keep from laughing as he imagined some poor photographer and editor sitting down together to find the least pissed-off-looking picture of their subject to use.

He wondered, sometimes, if his friend even remembered him much. Sasuke's life seemed so meteoric, and it had been more than three years since they had been at school together. But Naruto knew that this had always been the way it would turn out. There had never been any doubt in his mind that Sasuke's life would be amazing. And even though he had thought it might be different for a while before he had left Konoha, deep down he also had known that as much as it had seemed like they had some sort of connection, it could never last. Real life just didn't work that way.

Whatever he did with his day, Naruto would then catch a bus back for dinner at the house and take his second shower of the day before bed. He had gotten used to taking scalding hot showers now, but at lest the steam was sufficient to preserve the little modesty he had left.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Naruto. Can you come to my office for a minute?" Naruto followed Hinata to one of the few rooms in the house that did not have cameras. She closed the door. "Your first week went really well. Especially shower time," she laughed as Naruto rolled his eyes. "I have a couple of suggestions that I'd like you to consider. The first is interacting more with your house-mates. You could visit their rooms, or have them visit yours. Nothing explicit, but you should try a study session or two with Jasmine, to start with. I think that your fan bases would be compatible, and driving cross-traffic is good for business."

Naruto tried to imagine a study session with the 'sexy librarian'. He was not sure how that would go, but he'd think about it at least. She seemed nice enough, and actually was really smart. His math was pretty far behind, and if he ever wanted to try to test out of high school at some point, he'd need to get on that. But... he just wasn't sure that the House of Porn was really the place for it. He shrugged noncommittally.

"How do you feel about tattoos?" Hinata asked, breaking into his thoughts.

"What, like - on me?" Naruto blinked at the non sequitur. "I guess I never really thought about it. I mean... I haven't had money for food or a place to stay, so tattoos were, um, not on my list of things to consider purchasing for myself."

Hinata shrugged in understanding. "We could cover the cost of that and have it done here, if you are interested. I think it would be hot on you, given your personality. Why don't you sketch out a few things you like, and show them to me. If something looks good, I can have Bruno do the ink."

"Bruno? Bondage Boy does tats? Is he, um, trained or are you just thinking of having him chain me up, then giving him a needle and telling him to go for it."

Hinata laughed. "You are such an idiot." Naruto jolted at the familiar term, and tried to hide it. He felt a wave of homesickness wash over him, thinking of Sasuke, and he tried to shake it off. "Of course he is trained. He actually has a shop downtown where he does this 'for real', and is quite talented," Hinata finished.

"Well," Naruto grabbed a piece of paper from Hinata's desk, and a pen. He quickly drew something on it, and handed it back to her. "If I were to get a tattoo, it would probably be this. On my stomach, I guess."

She looked at it, and raised her eyebrows, clearly impressed. It was a black, circular swirl, about 15 cm in diameter, with the kanji for the elements Fire, Wind, Lightening, Earth, and Water surrounding it. "It's a pretty quick decision for something you are going to be stuck with for life, you know. Do you want some time to think about it?"

"He he, yeah, well... the rate I am going it's not like I'm a good candidate for living 'till a hundred. But, this is something that I like to draw a lot, and actually visualize in my gut when I fight anyway. Sort of a... center of power image, I guess you'd call it."

"It's perfect. Let's go have a visit with Bruno, then, shall we?"

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Bruno's" room was probably exactly what Naruto would have imagined that someone nicknamed 'bondage boy' would have, if he had thought about it at all. There were shackles on the wall, some sort of very uncomfortable looking bed with chains there, pieces of rope lying around. Naruto looked up at Bruno to find the man watching him, waiting for some sort of reaction, while Hinata showed the sketch of the tattoo.

"You don't seem to shocked to see this stuff," he remarked to Naruto.

"Nah, I mean - 'bondage boy', right? I kinda figured you must have stuff like this. So... you really know what you are doing in terms of tats? And you use clean needles and stuff?"

Bruno smirked at Hinata, who simply rolled her eyes. "Naruto was a bit nervous about getting it done here instead of at an official parlor, but he did have one good idea about the whole thing."

Naruto quickly replayed what he had said to Hinata, correctly guessing that her opinion of a 'good idea' might not be the same as his. "Oi! I was joking about the being chained up part!"

Bruno looked him up and down thoughtfully. "You want this on your stomach, right? Here, take your shirt off and come sit on this bench." He motioned to a bench-press bench he had (which also of course had shackles. Naruto wondered why he would chain someone up while they exercised anyway, but decided not to ask).

Naruto hesitated for a second, then blew out a quick breath and did what the man asked. He actually kind of liked the idea of the tattoo, the more he thought about it. He trusted Hinata... she wouldn't lie about Bruno's skills on this. Bruno traced the design onto transfer paper, then had Naruto position it where he wanted on his abdomen. Once the outline was there, he had Naruto give the final ok as he went and set up his equipment. "First I'll do the outline, then fill it in."

"OK," Naruto tried not to be nervous or think about it. Hinata came back with her camera.

"Let's put one of his arms in the shackle. It will make a good picture," Hinata stated. Naruto shrugged, giving consent. Bruno raised his eyebrows a little surprised, but was more than happy to oblige. It took longer than Naruto had thought to get the tattoo, since it was rather large, and his arm had fallen asleep before it was complete. But looking down at Bruno's work when it was done made it more than worth it. The tattoo looked great.

"Bruno, you're awesome. This looks sick," Naruto grinned. "What do you think, Hinata?"

Hinata slowly smiled. "I think... we need to get some more pictures, but now with both arms in shackles."

\- xXx –

**2 years later**

Sasuke put his head down on his desk in his home office. He was going out of his mind. Aside from his birthdays, he hadn't heard from Naruto in almost 3 years. Sasuke hadn't been able to contact him at all. Any move he made to locate or communicate with him would just put Naruto at risk, given the level of scrutiny Sasuke was under by both the press and the police security detail he still had assigned to him, with the murder of his family still unsolved. He wasn't even sure if Naruto was still looking into the Yakuza, or had just given up on him entirely. He didn't even want to consider the worst possibilities.

He heard the doorbell, the voices of one of the security guards talking to someone, then a short knock on his door and Shikamaru walked in.

"Hey. It's been awhile." Shikamaru was the only person Sasuke had kept in touch with from high school. He had helped Sasuke cram for testing out of the rest of his classes. But since then, Sasuke had just been buried in work and night classes at the university, and hadn't seen much of his friend.

"Yeah. Work sucks," Sasuke said tiredly.

"Well, I thought you'd be interested to know that your middle school boyfriend is co-masturbating with my virtual girlfriend."

Sasuke blinked. Usually he was able to keep up with Shikamaru, but at this opening from his friend he just stared blankly. He must be more tired than usual. The point about his 'boyfriend' sunk in. "Is this something about Naruto?"

"Well, I _had_ been joking about that, but since you came up with his name I might have to re-evaluate things. But yes. I knew it had been a while since you'd heard from him, so I thought you'd be interested to see what his is up to. Excuse the pun."

Sasuke felt vast relief war with annoyance. Evidently Naruto must be ok, or Shikamaru wouldn't be making a joke. But then why hadn't Naruto gotten in touch with him? Where the hell had he been?

Shikamaru grabbed Sasuke's keyboard and typed in a URL. He quickly logged into the site and pulled up a link from his 'saved videos' section. Sasuke saw the name of the link was something stupid like 'Study session with the sexy librarian and street fighter'. He rolled his eyes at Shikamaru. "If you're going to tell me that someone named Naruto was leaving comments on a porn site, then -"

"Not commenting on. He is _in_ the porn site. Just watch."

Sasuke looked with a bit of trepidation. He didn't like porn... he found it crude and embarrassing. His friend from business school, Hozuki Suigetsu, was always watching it. Unless he was throwing one of his crazy 'anything goes' exclusive parties (which he always tried to get Sasuke to go to, for some reason. He was convinced that he could find the 'perfect guy' for Sasuke there, since he was clearly convinced that Sasuke would never have any interest in women. Sasuke didn't disagree with that last part, but had never gone... he wasn't really interested in men either). He didn't really think he wanted to see Naruto in full action with some girl. Or some guy, although that thought brought him up short and caused a minor short circuit in his brain.

Shikamaru noticed Sasuke's expression. "Don't worry... it's not one of those hard core sites. Just watch."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Naruto and Jasmine sat side by side at the table in Naruto's room. She had spent the last 30 minutes or so giving an overview of the basic concepts of calculus (which Naruto had never gotten to in school, dropping out just past algebra and trig), describing it more in terms of a language and what it described, the difference between integration and differentiation, and single- and multi-variability. Naruto could hardly believe it... it actually all made sense. He still would need to practice to actually learn how to do the mechanics of it, but for once he actually knew what it was supposed to be used for. Jasmine had told him that Hinata would give them a signal for when 'study time' was over, and 'time to perform a little' would start. Naruto had embarrassing visions of Hinata poking her head in and making kissy faces at them, or something.

He was just finishing up his first set of basic calc problems when suddenly the mood music, which had been turned down to basically 'off' for the past 30 minutes or so, became audible again to the distinct sounds of Enrique's _Tonight (I'm Fucking You)._ Naruto choked and started to cough, and Jasmine kicked him not too subtly under the table. Naruto glared at the nearest camera. "Not funny, Hinata!" he hissed. But he scrubbed his hands through his hair and turned a bit to Jasmine. She was wearing a short black skirt, a thin white button-down blouse, and a black bra clearly visible underneath. And of course, the horn-rimmed glasses which Naruto was quite sure she didn't need. The 'plan' that they had quickly agreed on was that Naruto would make the first move, given their respective personas that Hinata had developed. They would go as far as taking each other's shirts off, and then she would pull away and that would satisfy their audience. It was no lie that he found her attractive. Everyone in the house was hot, or the whole 'image' thing just didn't work. He knew that she had agreed to this... maybe even had suggested it, but somehow it felt weird to just grab her and start something. He knew the bar for plot in porn was low, but still... he was just too honest a person to not feel any connection at all with the person he was supposed to grope.

"Jasmine, I just wanted to say... before we... I wanted to say thanks for helping me with this. Math is seriously not in my sweet spot. Half the time in school I didn't even have the text book, and could almost never get the homework done. I didn't expect to learn much in this study session. But, it was really amazing. You can explain this shit so clearly, that it actually makes sense to me. You have a real talent for this. You must understand this shit really well if you can break it down so it makes sense to a guy like me. None of my other teachers were half as good."

To his surprise, she blushed. She twisted her fingers in the fabric of her skirt, and smiled almost shyly at him. "Here I thought you were going to have a bunch of cheesy lines ready. But that was actually... really sweet."

"Hmmm. Well, I did try to make up a few lines, but as you guessed they are all really bad. I think I'm not a 'line' kind of guy. I just go for honesty, and see how it plays."

"It plays pretty well. But let me hear some of these awful lines of yours." She had stopped fidgeting with her skirt, and was looking him directly in the eyes now, smiling a bit.

" _Well_ ," Naruto drawled, putting his hands around her waist, feeling much more comfortable with the whole thing now. He lifted her up and put her down on the desk, facing him. Her legs hung to either side of his waist. "Let's see... there was something about 'Hey, you're really good with figures'." Jasmine laughed and rolled her eyes. "Bad, I know, right? Then I came up with "I'm a much faster learner at physical things than academic ones." She ran her fingers through his hair, laughing easily at his horrible come-on lines. "But I think the absolute worst was asking if you also tutored human anatomy."

"Those are really terrible. You should probably just shut up," she said, leaning in.

"Yeah, that's what I thought, too." Both their smiles faded as Naruto leaned forward to meet her halfway. He kissed her, and she kissed him back hard. She slid off the desk into his lap, her legs straddling him. They went from playful to hot in about 2 seconds. Jasmine reached for the hem of Naruto's tank top and pulled it over his head. She ran her hands down his back while he kissed her neck. After a bit, she started unbuttoning her blouse, and Naruto started to feel freaked out about the cameras. He just wanted to put her shirt back on her and cover her up. He was totally turned on, but this was just... too far out of his comfort zone to go this far with god knows who watching. He started to slow downand pull back, and Jasmine at first looked confused, then remembered what they had set as the limit. She sat up, adjusting her bra.

"I guess we should leave the rest for our next study session," she said, a little reluctantly.

"Man, I hate to think what is going to happen in the placement exams if you keep tutoring me like this. Associating math and sex would be... a bit embarrassing when I go to hand in my paper."

She smirked. "I'm going to go take a shower and think about you." She looked pointedly at his lap. "Looks like you could do the same."

She leaned in and whispered, too softly for the cameras to catch, "But let's continue this later somewhere with no cameras."

The door closed behind her. Naruto blew out a breath and sat for a minute, willing the blood to return to his head. To speed the process a bit he banged his head against the desk a few times.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

When the clip ended, Naruto and Shikamaru just looked at the screen for a moment. There were two links, one to "Jasmine's shower" and one to "Menma's shower".

" _Menma_? He could choose any name he wanted and he goes with Menma? Seriously, that guy is food obsessed. Why didn't he just pick a normal name?" Sasuke kept his voice intentionally light. He was fighting an embarrassingly strong urge to click the link to the shower. "So I guess this has taken our relationship to a new level, that you are sharing your porn with me."

"Whatever," Shikamaru said, not batting an eye. "But at least you know what he was 'doing' until a year or two ago."

"What do you mean a year or two ago?" The relief that Sasuke had been feeling at finally having found out that Naruto was safe started to disappear again.

"If you click on his profile, there is a whole timeline for him. Looks like he joined her the day after his 16th birthday. He was here for about 9 months, then there was just a note that he had moved on."

Sasuke digested this. The day he started would have been the day after he left Naruto waiting on the rooftop. He felt guilt wash over him. Maybe he could have given Naruto some money if he had actually met with him, and he wouldn't have had to do this crap. "Well, based on how embarrassed he looked here, I seriously doubt he stayed in the porn business. Did it say where he went?" Sasuke already knew the answer, but couldn't help but ask.

"No, but you could probably find out where this house is, and talk to some of the people there about him. They might know. He's over 18 now... has been for a while. It shouldn't be risk to try to find him, right?"

But Shikamaru didn't know that Naruto had been digging into the Yakuza. God knows how deep he had gone. How risky would it be for Sasuke to try to find him?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sasuke heard the door click shut behind Shikamaru, and the man's footsteps heading down the hall. Sasuke looked at the site that Shikamaru had been showing him. Without expression, he clicked on the link to _Menma_ 's profile. A wall of photos popped up, and Sasuke's hand clenched on the mouse. It had been more than 4 years since he had seen Naruto up close. He remembered the day that Naruto had kissed him on the roof of the school. He had been 15, but it had been his first kiss. Sasuke had never been interested in kissing or any sort of physical contact before then. He had received endless annoying offers, but had just shut them all down with a cold glare or a scathing comment. The thought of someone else's spit or sweat on him just seemed gross. He didn't like people close to him, invading his personal space. But with Naruto it had been - different. When Naruto had kissed him, it hadn't been gross. It had been surprising and somehow... nice?

But the Naruto he was looking at now was not a little boy. This Naruto was not 'nice'. He was fucking _hot_. Sasuke didn't think he had ever thought of anyone as hot before. He was able to say that someone was attractive, in the same way he could describe an attractive vase. But it had no effect on him. He looked at a picture of Naruto laying on a bed, his pants unzipped, seeming to look right at him with raw lust. Sasuke's hand was sweating. There was another one with Naruto chained to some sort of bench, with his shirt off and _holy shit that tattoo._

The last photo of Naruto that had been posted before he left this site was one of him clearly after a fight. His cheekbone was bruised, the eye above slightly swollen, his lip cut and still lightly bleeding. There were several large bruises forming on his chest and forearms. He didn't appear to be in the same room as all the other photos. This room looked straight out of an S&M catalogue. Whips lined the walls, shackles everywhere, and some sort of wrack-looking device. Naruto was chained to this, looking directly into the camera with an almost chillingly intense stare. Dark. Somehow the sight of Naruto battered and chained was turning him on. He didn't know exactly what to make of that.

There were a series of links to videos that had been saved on "Menma's" profile, despite Naruto having left the house some time ago. Sasuke clicked on one. It appeared to be Naruto doing pushups, sit-ups, and working on a heavy punching bag that was hanging in his room. Sasuke thought distractedly that Naruto's skills had really improved since back in the day with the informal dojo. He had his shirt off, and he could see every muscle move with each action the man took. His torso was slick with sweat from his workout, and that tattoo. _Fuck._ When had Sasuke developed a thing for tattoos? Evidently about 5 minutes ago.

He eyed another link: "In the shower". _Well, he put it out there, so -_ click.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Naruto walked into the bathroom and turned the shower on, letting it heat to build up steam. He put his shirt in the laundry hamper. With his back to the camera in the shower, he pulled down his sweatpants and threw them in as well. He stretched up, still facing away from the camera, then grabbed a towel and turned and headed to the shower, which was now billowing with steam.

He stepped into the shower and dropped the towel on the floor just outside the shower door. The hot water was pounding over him, scalding hot but it felt good on his sore muscles. He took the soap and a washcloth and scrubbed himself, then shampooed his hair. Ever since that photo session with Hinata, he had a hard time taking a shower without thinking about Sasuke. The newspapers and magazines often had a photo of the young, hot business tycoon, so his mental image of his childhood friend had grown with the man. And Sasuke looked damn fine in his power suit. Naruto's vivid imagination could easily imagine him out of it as well, and his brain seemed absolutely fixated on that idea. Naruto had come to accept the fact that he was most likely bi, but he could not really bring himself to take any of the guys who hit on him. They weren't Sasuke and compared to him, any other guy was just... not interesting. At least with a woman, there was no comparison because they were just altogether different. Soft. Gentle. Sweet. He couldn't really manage a serious relationship, because he knew he was totally obsessed with someone else, but he was a physical guy. And he was honest with the women he was with, making it clear that it was for fun, but was not a relationship. At least during sex he didn't have to worry about calling out Sasuke's name. There was no mistaking a woman's body for Sasuke's.

But when Naruto was alone, even when he tried, it was never a woman's image he fantasized about. _God, I am such a fucking idiot!_

Naruto laughed softly at himself, already feeling himself get hard at just the thought of Sasuke. _Moron, it is never going to happen._

But his hand was already lathering the soap and moving up and down his cock, the images that Hinata had seared into his mind making short work of any reality check he tried to give himself. "Ugh, shit!" he groaned his release, leaning his head against the wall of the shower. At least he had managed to never actually say Sasuke's name in one of these 'self service' moments on camera.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Red stained Sasuke's cheekbones, and it was not from embarrassment. He was so fucking hard. He had never seriously considered seeking out a partner for mindless sex. Or any kind of sex, actually. But he suddenly discovered that his libido was not nonexistent as he had thought. Maybe... he was just a really late bloomer. He thought about his options. Going out to a nightclub was not one of them, given how the press was currently obsessed with his sex life. He could sit here and jerk off to his apparently hetero best friend taking a shower. He could call one of the five thousand numbers of various women he had received (though he had probably thrown them all away, or vaporized them). Or, he could..

Sasuke picked up the phone. "Hey, Suigetsu. You mentioned you were having one of your parties tonight, right?... Yeah, I'll be there... My type of guy?... Blond, athletic, adventurous, and not looking for any relationship past tonight... Right. See you then."

-xXx-

To be continued...

A/N - please comment and let me know what you think


	5. The Overdose

**Author's note:** This chapter was actually the first thing that I wrote for this fic, and just had to let the story progress to where I could slot it in. *sweating* So now you can all think I am really strange with this being the seed for the whole fic. If you like it, please comment so I can stop being so nervous. For some reason I was listening to Timbaland's _Morning after Dark_ a lot when I wrote this (I know... it's old, but somehow...).

\- xXx -

Sasuke thought back to that last photo of Naruto before he had disappeared from the online site. Something about Naruto's expression both drew him and concerned him. It was dark, and determined. The cuts and bruises on his body, chained up as he was... Sasuke wondered what had happened that day to his friend, before this photo was taken.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

**The day of the last photo**

Naruto was sparring with one of the more experienced fighters in the gym, oblivious to the three people who were watching him. He had finally gotten used to ring fighting, and allowed himself to focus just on the opponent in front of him. As compared to actual street fighting, where you had to watch your back.

"He's good, but I wouldn't say he's amazing," the largest of the three watchers said. He had reddish brown hair and purple Yakuza tattoos on his face.

"Speak for yourself," said the female of the group, her eyes looking appreciatively at the fluid grace of the blond fighter in front of them. She had blond hair, tied into four ponytails.

"He's holding back," said the third and smallest of the group. He had red hair, green eyes circled with dark eyeliner, and a tattoo on his forehead with the kanji for love.

When the match was over, Naruto and his opponent bowed respectfully to each other, then bumped gloves. The older man was breathing hard and his trainer went over to check him for injuries and ice him down. Naruto just grabbed his small hand towel, wiped his face, and jumped down from the ring. He noticed the strange stillness in the gym, and the trio that was standing near the ring watching him, but pretended to be oblivious. If there was one thing he'd learned, it was that people let their guard down around idiots.

"Are you Menma?" a soft but rough voice came from behind him. Naruto turned, pretending to notice them for the first time. Though the speaker was the smallest of the three, Naruto instantly marked him as the most dangerous in the room.

"Yeah, that's me." Naruto gave a friendly smile. "Can I help you with something?"

The man looked a little surprised with the friendly greeting. It was clearly not what he was used to. "I'm Gaara. I run one of the underground fighting syndicates in Tokyo. I heard you had some interesting skills."

Naruto hesitated. Underground mixed martial arts fights had no regulatory body monitoring them. The fights were more brutal and much more dangerous. But he knew for a fact that Orochimaru and Danzo were huge fans of those fights. He wasn't as sure about Nagato, but several of the man's lieutenants were known to go. It was violent, un-regulated, and rife with gambling, which made it the perfect 'past time' for them. This would be the best chance Naruto would ever have of being able to meet senior members of the Yakuza groups he was targeting without actually having to join one. It was what he had been waiting for the past 9 months. However, it came with significant risks.

Mentally, Naruto took a deep breath. _You're not going to get any further into this by playing it safe, dumb-ass. Don't blow this._ Outwardly, he just shrugged.

"I'm interested. What do I need to do?"

"Come with us to my gym, and let's go a few rounds together so I can see what I'm working with," the smaller man said.

"Sure, I'll give it a shot," Naruto wasn't arrogant about his fighting. He knew he was good, but he also knew there was always someone better. He wouldn't get another chance like this, though, so there was no point in worrying about it.

"Um, Menma? Can I talk to you for a minute?" One of the guys he had been talking to earlier was pulling frantically at his sleeve. Gaara simply looked at the man, who took two steps back.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at his friend who was backed almost to the wall now. "Why the freak-out?"

Gaara smirked slightly. "He probably wants to warn you that I am banned from fighting in matches in Japan, due to the unfortunate fact that too many of my opponents didn't live through them. But you're taller and stronger than I am, so it shouldn't worry you, right?"

Naruto didn't take the obvious bait. Instead, he replied, "When I was younger, lots of people thought they could beat the crap out of me because I was smaller than them. Turns out most of them were wrong. Size and strength don't matter if you don't know what to do with them in a real fight," Naruto grinned then. "Of course, some of them did know how to fight, and they kicked the crap out of me. I think you and I are probably similar in some ways. There are people who learn to fight as a sport, and there are people who fight to survive. I think... you and I both learned the same way."

Gaara stared at Naruto for a minute, then a ghost of a smile flashed across his lips. "You are smarter then you appear, aren't you? This is my sister, Temari, and my brother, Kankuro. Grab your gear, and let's go."

Naruto picked up his pack and headed out, ignoring the murmurs that erupted behind him as they walked out the door. He tried to quell the feeling of nerves in his stomach. He knew that the training he had had before this were child's play compared to what he was getting into now.

. . . . . . .

That evening, he walked into the house, and Jasmine gasped. "Oh my god! Are you ok?" She turned and shouted towards the kitchen. "Hinata! Menma's hurt, we need to take him to the hosp-"

"I'm fine, Jasmine. It's just some bruises," Naruto smiled, but winced a bit when the cut on his lip split open again. He knew he looked like hell. But it was worth it. Gaara was an absolutely amazing fighter. But they had both come out with damage, and mutual respect. It wasn't quite an even match. Gaara had definitely won. But not by that much. Naruto had never really gone all-out in a ring match before. And it had been... exhilarating. He didn't have to worry about overwhelming his opponent when it was Gaara. And if this is what it would feel like to fight on the circuit, maybe it wouldn't be too terrifying after all. And best of all, Gaara had said he would train him, starting tomorrow. Tonight would be his last night at this house. Gaara had rolled his eyes, when he had asked where Naruto was staying, and had just told Naruto he could quit his night job and move his soft-porn ass over to the gym. The money he'd make on fights would be way more than he was making now. And this path would give him direct access to the people he was trying to get.

Hinata walked into the room and froze, taking in Naruto's battered face and the bruise along his collar bone. She walked up to him and unzipped his hoodie the rest of the way, pulling it off, followed by his tank top. His ribs were already mottled with bruises.

"You're sure you don't want us to take you to a hospital?"

"No, I'm fine. Actually... it was sort of an audition. Tonight will be my last night here. Sorry..." He wasn't really sure how Hinata would feel about it, but he knew it would not be totally unexpected. He didn't offer more of an explanation, not wanting to involve anyone and also not wanting to be found by anyone coming here to look for him after he was gone. She looked at him, and he could see the worry flash across her silver eyes.

"You are always welcome to come back, if this doesn't work out," she said softly.

"Thanks. You really helped me, and I won't forget it," he gave her a soft hug. She pulled away after a minute, looking at him consideringly.

"Well, if you're sure you are ok, then how about one last photo shoot? In my room, this time."

In the nine months that Naruto had been at the 'House of Porn', he had never seen Hinata's room. But given that leather was her favorite fabric, it didn't surprise him to see a full on dominatrix's lair. She brought her lighting and camera equipment in, and began setting up next to something that to Naruto looked like a medieval torture device.

"Come sit here, and let me hook you up," Hinata said matter-of-factly. Naruto shrugged and let himself be shackled into the device.

"We are going to do another one of those imagery sessions. Do you remember the first one?"

_Only every time I take a fucking shower._

Naruto shrugged again, feeling pretty stiff and sore and not sure he was up for one of her erotic fantasy sessions. But it was his last night here, so he'd play it how she wanted. God knew he owed her at least that much. But it turned out this session wasn't remotely like the first one.

"I want you to think of the absolute worst moment you have ever had in your life. The worst feeling you had." Naruto closed his eyes. That was easy. It was when he had first seen the headlines that Sasuke's family was dead, and he didn't know if Sasuke was dead, too. And then at the funeral, seeing Sasuke so shut down, and knowing he had been helpless to protect the one person that had ever helped him.

"Open your eyes." Click, click.

"Now, I want you to close your eyes and think about the person who caused that moment. Think about what you would do if they were the ones in this room before you now, shackled, and you were standing here, alone with them." Naruto thought about what he would like to do to the person who blew up his friend's family. "No one will know what you do. There is no one around to see."

Naruto opened his eyes and looked directly at Hinata. Despite herself, she felt her throat tighten and she stepped back, almost forgetting to take the pictures. When the shoot was done, she released him and told him to go wash up and she'd send someone in with some ibuprofen and ice packs to keep the swelling down. When he walked out of the room, she chaffed her arms where the hairs were still standing on end. Naruto had always struck her as somehow innocent, despite everything she had guessed about his past. But there was one thing that Hinata was absolutely sure of after tonight. Naruto was in the process of hunting someone down. She realized that she didn't really know this person at all.

-xXx-

**Two years later**

Naruto sat on his bed in his room above Gaara's gym, looking at the pile of sketches and notes he had compiled over the past two years. It was almost time. He had to find a way to talk to Sasuke without being detected. He didn't have to worry anymore about Child Services finding out where 'Naruto' was... he would be 20 in less than two months. But he had kept the name Menma and stayed off the radar because he had been unbelievably successful at learning what he needed to know with that identity: a runaway nobody with no connections. If he were seen with Sasuke now, or their past connection became known, it would all come unraveled. Sasuke was a very high profile public figure. His unbelievable good looks would have been sufficient to keep him in the press, but his almost diabolical business skills had blown everyone away. On top of the tabloid and general press scrutiny, he was still surrounded by a tight security team that liaised with the police given his family history. All his phone lines were monitored, there were security cameras in his home and office, and he was followed by a security detail basically everywhere he went.

But Naruto had gone as far as he could go alone at this point. He now was pretty sure he knew exactly who had done it, and why. And he knew enough details about the people and operations that someone skilled with strategies could either figure out how to take them down, or what still needed to be done. He ran his fingers through his blond hair in frustration. This type of thing was not his strength. He had good people skills, good instincts, and was good at remembering faces and places. But complicated strategies...

He sat up. It had been a really long time, but there was one person who he knew would be able to help him, and who also had access to Sasuke.

Shikamaru heard his cell phone buzz. He looked at the clock and saw it was 10pm. He sighed, not recognizing the number, and wondering if he should bother answering. But the buzzing was annoying, so he picked up.

"This is Shikamaru."

"Hey. You'll never guess who this is."

An hour later, Shikamaru was sitting with Naruto in a hotel room in Konoha, looking through the sketches of various Yakuza members and their bases, with notes on who they were and the role they played in the organization. Naruto sat silently, waiting for the man to finish.

Shikamaru looked up. "How did you get all this?"

"Well, when I had to get the hell out of Konoha, back in middle school, I went to Tokyo," Shikamaru nodded. He had found out the story from Sasuke. "When I landed there, I made up a new name, found a regular job and worked and went back to school for a while, until..." Naruto looked down. "As soon as I heard, I came back and found Sasuke. We didn't have much time to talk, but it was clear he was not going to just let the police handle this. We both knew that they'd never actually be able to take someone like that down, even if they were smart enough to find out who. But he was being watched by everyone, so it was going to be really hard for him to do anything about it. I went back to Tokyo and figured I'd just shift tactics a bit and spend more time where I could pick up things on what had happened. Just sort of... blend in, I guess. It took a few years, but I know who was behind it. The only thing I still haven't figured out for sure is what happened to Itachi. But... I'm pretty sure he his still alive."

Shikamaru's head snapped up at the last statement. "Why?"

"I heard someone talking about the Uchiha Massacre," Shikamaru flinched at the term, and Naruto sympathized but kept going. "He was the little brother of someone pretty high up in Nagato's crew. And he said, _'They better hope neither of the brothers find out who did it.'_ Brothers. Plural. And something about the way he said it... I think... he knows something about Itachi. I don't think Itachi has been hiding quietly on the sidelines somewhere. I think he has been going after whoever did this on his own."

"That's not in your notes here."

"No. If someone found my notebook and read it, I'd be dead but no one else. If I put anything about Itachi being alive, and the wrong person read it..."

Shikamaru's hooded eyes reflected understanding. If Itachi were really alive, and the wrong people found out...

"Also," Naruto continued. "I didn't want to show it to Sasuke until I was sure, or at least had a little more to go on. He... really loves his brother. And it would fuck him up if he thought Itachi were alive, then it turned out not to be true."

Shikamaru nodded, then sat and thought for a bit. "You didn't really answer my question on how you know all this. But I am guessing it is because you want me to honestly tell Sasuke that I can't contact you in case he gets impatient. I'll need time to think through all this. What's your timing on trying to track down Itachi?"

"I've been invited to a party at Nagato's compound by a couple of lieutenants at the end of next week. That is going to be my best shot. If I can't find out anything more concrete by then, we'll just have to push ahead with what we have. There is a lot more talk now about Sasuke going on in my circles, and that's not a good sign. Something is feeding it. I don't think we have a lot of time."

"When do you want me to tell Sasuke about the rest of this?"

"As soon as you can. I just didn't know a way to go directly to him without drawing a bull's eye around us."

Shikamaru flipped open his cell phone. "It's tiresome, but let me see if I can get him."

Naruto put a hand over Shikamaru's cell, preventing the man from dialing. "Look, Shikamaru. I know I came at you out of the blue with this. You don't have to get involved. If you can just help me figure out a safe way to contact him, I can do this with him on my own. Even if I try to keep you on the periphery of this shit... there are pretty big sharks in these waters right now. Sasuke's already a target, so I have no choice to bring him in, but you are safe if you stay out of it."

"Yeah, I figured all that out basically as soon as you told me who you were on the phone..."

Naruto looked at Shikamaru, not doubting his words, but wanting to be sure the man really understood...

"And I came anyway. You don't need to draw me a picture. I was in Konoha the day they blew Sasuke's house," Shikamaru's voice was almost bored. He flicked Naruto's hand off and continued dialing.

Naruto grinned. He suddenly wished he had gotten to know Shikamaru better when they were younger.

It was 4am when Sasuke got back to his bed. He had been at one of Suigetsu's parties again. He flipped open his phone and saw that he had a message from Shikamaru, which was unusual. He pushed play. _Sasuke. Call me when you get this. Don't worry about the time. An old friend stopped by to see me, and wanted to say hello_.

Sasuke thought about calling him back, but it was 4am, and he was still a little drunk. He took a shower and washed the smell of the nameless man off himself. He could barely tolerate it when he was drunk, but he knew he would be totally revolted by it when he was fully sober. He'd call Shikamaru back in the morning.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Naruto was here?" Sasuke felt a little sick, sitting in Shikamaru's apartment late the next morning. He couldn't believe he had missed seeing Naruto - the one person he actually _wanted_ to see - while he was out at some party trying to just make himself forget things for a while. "When did he leave?"

"He had to be back in Tokyo today, so he took the first train this morning." Shikamaru took in his friend's expression, but didn't comment. He had a pretty good idea what Sasuke had been doing when he had tried to call him. He knew that Sasuke had started to go off the rails a bit over the past couple of years, but you'd never know it by how he seemed to hold it together to the public eye.

"Did he leave a number? Do you know where he is staying?" He heard the edge of desperation in his voice, but couldn't control it.

"No, we can't contact him. But he said he would call me one week from today, and I have until then to figure out a way for the three of us to meet there without being seen. Sasuke... Naruto is in crazy deep. He wouldn't tell me exactly what he is doing, but he is in with all three of the Yakuza factions and is on literally a first-name basis with most of their top guys and their crews. It's a little insane. What he gave us here, if anyone sees this, will get him killed. They will know it is him. No one else has knowledge of all three of these groups at this level. So I need you to focus. Are you too hung over to do this right now?"

Sasuke felt his stomach clench in real fear for his friend, but he covered it with a glare at his friend. "I've done billion dollar mergers still drunk. I can handle this."

"Whatever. Like that's something to be proud of," he handed his friend the pack of sketches that Naruto had given him and replayed what Naruto had told him about things starting to heat back up. "You need to memorize these faces. Your place has too many people looking over it, so I'm keeping this all at mine. I need time to study it anyway. There are a few faces you already know, but there are some that you don't and you need look out for them." He pulled two sketches out.

"These are two assassins," Shikamaru handed them to Sasuke. The first looked to be a dark-haired young man, wearing a shirt that was cut off revealing his stomach. He had the creepiest smile that Sasuke had ever seen. "This is Danzo's top assassin. Naruto said that if you or your security team ever see his face, you are to run like hell. If he shows up on any video feed for your office or home, go into a safe house until they catch him. Danzo brings him in for all his important assassinations. This is possible the only picture in existence of this guy. Show it only to Kakashi, let him memorize it, but don't let him give it to the police or you will be killed just for having it, whether or not you are currently a target."

Sasuke closed his eyes briefly. _What the hell had Naruto been doing that he was close enough to guys like this to fucking sketch them?_

He looked at the next sketch. It was of another young man with white hair and glasses. "This guy's name is Kabuto. He is Orochimaru's right-hand man, and also an assassin. He specializes in poison. You have to worry about him, but for a different reason."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow in question. "Look, I told you that Naruto said he knows Danzo ordered the hit. But that doesn't mean you are safe from the others. According to Naruto, Orochimaru was completely obsessed with Itachi. Even though the guy is in his fifties, he had some creepy idea of 'getting together' with Itachi and basically merging the Uchiha empire with his. Evidently he totally lost it when he heard Itachi had been killed, but then someone showed him a photo of you, and... Naruto said the guy has pictures of you up on the wall of his bedroom. Like he's some 14-year-old girl and you are a teen idol."

A wave of nausea washed over him, and he wondered if maybe he really was too hung over to do this. _And what the hell did Naruto have to do to find out what that guy had in his bedroom anyway?_

"So basically, Naruto is warning me not to eat anything that this Kabuto guy gives me, since his boss is a perv trying to get in my pants?"

"Pretty much," Shikamaru shrugged.

"Fantastic," Sasuke grumbled. He had just been invited to go to an underground fight with Orochimaru in a couple of days, which evidently was a big deal for the Yakuza boss, since he took those fights very seriously. He only invited his closest business partners to go with him. Now Sasuke was going to be sure he packed the butterfly knife that TenTen had given him for his 20th birthday, in case he had to fillet the bastard in the car.

"So where does Nagato come in? Why was he on Naruto's original list, and now he's not?"

"Nagato is an interesting guy. He has a very diverse set of very dangerous lieutenants, each with their own areas of specialization. And it turns out that this one," he handed Sasuke a sketch of a young man wearing a black cloak with long blond hair covering one eye. "... specializes in explosives. The way that the house was detonated and completely destroyed required a high degree of professional skill. There aren't many who could have done it, but this one could."

Suddenly Sasuke wished he wasn't sober at all. He hated thinking about that day. He shoved the tidal wave of emotion viciously back down. "So why is Nagato off the list, then?" His voice was flat.

"Because his people were surprised when it happened. Naruto was there shortly after, and said the streets were buzzing with speculation on who and why. This was not the case with Danzo's group. Or Orochimaru's. So Naruto knew it was one of those two, but with Itachi missing, he was leaning towards Danzo. He says he has proof he'll tell us about next week. He didn't want to risk it this time since he wasn't sure we'd connect."

Sasuke processed what Shikamaru was telling him. Rather than forgetting about him, evidently Naruto had spent the last four years of his life going after his enemy. And now, he had proof. Sasuke's hands almost shook with the need to wrap around this Danzo's throat. And Naruto was going to bring the proof to him, not the police. That meant that either Naruto knew that Sasuke would want to handle this personally, or that the proof would not likely hold up in court. Probably both.

Sasuke grabbed the stack of sketches and notes. He was good at remembering faces and facts about people, since it was considered a core business skill. He felt a dark strength flow into his mind as he committed it all to memory. Finally, he was going to be able to take action. His financial empire, combined with the new alliances he had formed with some of the Yakuza, would make him almost untouchable even if he did get caught. Everything was coming into place.

-xXx-

Three days later, Sasuke greeted Orochimaru and got into the man's limo. He thought back to Naruto's warning and surpressed a shiver of revulsion at the snake-like man's gaze, which always lingered uncomfortably on his body. But Sasuke knew that being invited to join Orochimaru at one of the underground fights was a sign of trust from the man, and Sasuke planned to take full advantage of that. They arrived at the building where the matches were held, and the driver opened the door for them. All business talk had been completed in the car. Sasuke had been advised that under no circumstances was he to talk to Orochimaru during the match, as he took them quite seriously. And he had also been careful to say that he had friends picking him up after, so Orochimaru wouldn't have the chance to try anything that would cause Sasuke to eviscerate him on the way home.

Sasuke took his seat next to Orochimaru in the front row of the arena. He noticed that the arena was caged. He looked disinterestedly at the two combatants in the ring.

And froze. His gaze was riveted on the golden-skinned blond with a tribal tattoo on his stomach and piercing blue eyes.

_Naruto._

Sasuke was glad he would not be expected to converse during the match. It was all he could do to keep his jaw closed and breathe. The match started quickly, and Sasuke had to fight to keep from digging his fingers into the armrests of his chair. The pace and skill of Naruto's opponent were incredible. But as Sasuke kept watching, he slowly relaxed. As good as that guy was, Naruto was better. He seemed almost to be toying with him. Both had bodies sinewd with taut muscles already sheened with sweat. But Naruto had a lethal, fluid grace and an instinctive ability to see what was coming next that only came from years of fighting with varied opponents. The other fighter managed to land a few blows that looked pretty brutal to Naruto's chest and stomach, but Naruto barely flinched before countering. The match didn't even last the full duration, and the other man went down.

. . . . . . . . . .

Sasuke thanked Orochimaru, and pretended to call to a 'friend' that he was supposed to meet. As soon as Orochimaru and his men had left the building, Sasuke turned and went down the darkened corridor beneath the arena. He didn't have to search much before finding the room that Naruto was in. He heard his friend's voice echo down the all through the closed door.

"Damn it, you drunken old bag! I told you I didn't want that crap put in me, I don't need –"

"You are a valuable fighter. Gaara needs you fit for the next match, so that means you need anti-inflammatories and pain killers at least for the next 24-hours. This is not your decision. Temari said –"

"That crazy bitch just wants me drugged up so she can get in my pants. Now put that needle away and get the hell – Ouch! God dammit, Tsunade!"

"For someone who can take as many punches as you and not go down, you are such a baby when it comes to needles."

"Get out! All of you idiots get out and let me rest!" At Naruto's annoyed roar, Sasuke almost laughed. He waited as several people filed out, one a woman who was dressed as a doctor but had the most improbably large breasts and blond ponytails. No one else appeared to be carrying medical equipment, so Sasuke was left to wonder if she really was the doctor, or just a porn star that Naruto hired to make the medicine easier to take. He wouldn't have put it past him.

Once they had passed, Sasuke emerged from the shadows and listened at the door. There didn't seem to be any more voices coming from inside, so presumable that meant that Naruto was alone. Slowly, Sasuke pushed open the door.

Naruto was laying on a medical examination table with his eyes closed, listening to music. It sounded like Shinedown. His hair looked wet from a shower, and he had a towel wrapped around his waist, and a bag of ice on his left shoulder. Sasuke had thought he had been completely silent, but something must have given away a presence in the room.

"Temari, I swear to God! This is like, what, the fourth time now? How many times do I have to tell you that I am not going to fuck you, no matter how much painkiller you tell that drug-dealer of a doctor to pump into me. You're like a goddam sister to me. It's gross," Naruto sounded pissed, though his words were slightly slurred. He hadn't opened his eyes yet.

"Wow – and you used to tell me I needed to be gentler when turning down girls in school. I don't think even I was that harsh."

Naruto sat up quickly, the bag of ice falling on the floor, and hissed at the pain in his ribs.

"Holy hell… Sa… Sasuke!" Naruto's eyes were slightly glazed, but the locked onto the dark haired man and didn't waver. "Damn, you look amazing. Look at you! That suit is hot. You look… really hot. And expensive! Shit, it's good to see you!"

"You look like hell. Nice fight, though," Sasuke said, watching as Naruto swayed unsteadily on the medical table. It bothered him more than he cared to admit to see his friend covered in bruises again.

"Wow, room's totally spinning. Damn Tsunade. She gave me enough pain killers to down a horse."

Sasuke quickly grabbed Naruto's arm and helped him lay back down. "You are really banged up. What, you liked getting your ass kicked so much as a kid you decided to make a career out of it?"

"Mah… not a career. Means to an end. Underground fights always draw Yakuza. They love getting to watch guys beat the hell out of each other and not have to worry about getting arrested for enjoying it. And they also recruit from the fighters."

"What... to see who looks best with their shirt off?"

"Pfffftt. Good one. Orochimaru probably does. That guy's a serious perve. Ugh," he put his hands to his ribs and stomach. "Shit, don't make me laugh. I'm totally dying here."

Sasuke had been trying hard to focus mainly on Naruto's face, but at the man's words he looked down to his chest and taught abs where the tattoo was fully visible. Naruto's skin was slick from some kind of massage oil. The room smelled of sandalwood from it. The tattoo glistened. It extended around Naruto's belly button, and swirled down to where the almost invisibly thin line of fine blond hair began that led to where the small towel was draped over his hips.

"Um…" Sasuke tried to focus on something other than Naruto's abs and fucking hot tattoo. "Are you ok? Do you want me to go get that porn star doctor of yours?"

"Ha! Ugh… Stop being funny! No, I'm ok. I just need to sleep. Most of this will be gone by morning. You remember how it was when we were kids."

"Yeah. I remember how it was for you. I always took at least a week more for the bruises to fade."

"That's because you've got that fine, pale-ass skin. Shows every mark. Just like a woman. Heh," Naruto grinned.

"You trying to pick another fight just after getting your ass kicked? I guess you really haven't changed."

"What do you mean? I won that fight out there tonight," Naruto looked at Sasuke, still not able to fully process that he was actually here. "What about you? God, it's been like… almost four years since I saw you. Did you get my post cards?"

"Yeah," Sasuk said gruffly. "They sucked."

"Heh. Seems like the pain meds are kicking in. I can laugh now without dying. In fact… I can't really feel anything anymore. Weird. Anyway, I had no idea how to get in touch with you, or if you were even getting them. I figured your secretary or whatever would probably just throw them out, since I could only send them to your office. Thank god Shikamaru was able at least to get you the information. We need to -"

Sasuke had been standing with his back facing the door to the room. Before he could answer, he felt rather than heard the door behind him open silently.

"God dammit Temari!"

Sasuke turned around at Naruto's roar, to see a pretty and well-built blond enter the room. She was wearing a tight black dress, and – Sasuke supposed – seemed to have the figure to pull it off.

She smirked at Naruto's verbal assault, clearly unphased. Sasuke's estimation of her went up a notch, despite the dress.

"All the other girls have had a chance. I just figured I should too, since my brother owns you and all."

"Owns him?" Sasuke asked quietly. Temari faced him squarely. Wary, but clearly not intimidated. Sasuke's estimation of her rose a bit more, but was tempered by his annoyance at what she had said.

"My brother, Gaara. He owns the gym where he trains, and is his manager for all his fights."

"If Gaara heard you saying shit like 'he owns me', he'd kick your ass, girl or not."

Sasuke liked this Gaara already.

"Who is this guy, Menma?"

"THIS guy… this guy is _Sasuke_ ," Naruto declared, as if that name should be incredibly meaningful to her. She looked at Naruto and frowned. Something definitely seemed off about the way his words were slurring. She knew Naruto didn't drink after a fight. In fact, she had never seen him drunk at all. "And since he was here first, you are out of luck. I am totally fucking him tonight instead of you."

Sasuke's face went completely blank, and Temari burst out laughing. "Of all the ridiculous… Menma, you are absolutely the straightest guy I know, so I am not falling for that one. You must be out of your mind on those pain killers. And what would what's-her-name say about all this. Isn't your latest 'girlfriend' coming to pick you up tonight?"

"Nah – she gets queasy looking at me after a fight, which is why she's never really going to be my girlfriend, and she already knows that. It was over yesterday," Naruto said blithely. "Besides, Sasuke's way hotter than what's-her-name. I'd totally rather fuck him."

"It's true," Temari said, both of them looking at Sasuke's carefully expressionless face. "He might actually be the best-looking person I have ever seen. But he doesn't look completely tame. Maybe I should get Gaara."

"Don't get Gaara… I'm not interested in a threesome. Just Sasuke. And you're right, he is totally dangerous. You should see the size of this guy's sword," Naruto grinned hazily, clearly trying to tease an answering smile from Sasuke and shock Temari at the same time. "Did you know I was his first kiss?" Naruto broke into an off-tune rendition of ' _I kissed a boy and I liked it.'_

"The size of his… seriously… how high are you? I can't even tell if you are serious anymore," Temari was still outwardly smiling, but she was starting to get seriously worried.

"Are you kidding? I'm high as a fucking kite. I can't even feel my legs. Tsunde is trying to fucking OD me. But I'm totally serious about Sasuke. Now, get the hell out and let me have my way with my schoolboy fantasy. No fan girls allowed. Oi, Sasuke! Get over here and drop your pants. I'm going to give you the blow job of your life, then have my way with you in the hot tub. Assuming my ribs hold together enough to let me bang the shit out of –"

"Naruto, stop! Oh, my god! Just… stop!" Temari could hardly breathe, shocked laughter choking out. "I think you are totally freaking your friend out." She turned to Sasuke, his face still completely impassive. She tried to read his expression, and failed. "I am so sorry, Sasuke. I swear I have never seen him like this. I'm going to go get Tsunade and make sure she wasn't drunk on the job again and accidentally overdosing her patients."

"Does that happen a lot?" Sasuke asked, with no inflection at all in his voice.

"It's happened," Temari headed for the door.

"Don't you dare bring that woman back here. Get Shizune if you have to get someone. Now just give us some privacy, for fuck's sake. I haven't seen this guy in like four years. We have some serious catching up to do." Naruto's words were becoming so slurred it was hard to catch them all, and Temari shot a concerned glance first at him, then at Sasuke.

"Look, I know it is probably really uncomfortable for you, but could you just stay with him until I get back? Really, he is not usually like this. I think Tsunde might really have over-dosed him. Just don't let him go to sleep."

"I don't mind," Sasuke said, looking at Naruto who was starting to close his eyes.

Temari opened the door and he could hear her footsteps running down the corridor.

"Oi, Naruto. You can't fall asleep. You might not wake back up."

"Then come here and keep me awake," Sasuke came and sat on the edge of the table. Naruto looked at him for a moment, then slowly levered himself up and grabbed Sasuke by the back of the head and pulled him down into a bruising kiss, fisting his hand into the black hair. This kiss bore absolutely no resemblance to the one they had shared on the school rooftop when they were younger. Naruto thrust his tongue into Sasuke's mouth and seemed to be trying to swallow him whole. Sasuke had to summon every ounce of his willpower not to respond to the kiss and drill his friend into the medical table. _Stupid fuck, your best friend is OD'ing and out of his mind and this is what you are seriously considering?_ His sheer disgust with himself snapped him out of it, and he pushed hard on Naruto's chest, and the blond fell back with a groan.

The song had changed. "Stay and Drown" seeped out of the stereo, eerily reflecting the mood.

"Shit, I feel sick. I can hardly keep my eyes open. Am I seriously OD'ing?"

"Yeah. I think so," Sasuke tried to keep his voice calm. "Do you know what she gave you? If you do, I can take you to the nearest hospital and they can fix it. If not, it's probably better to wait here until they get back with that drunk-ass doctor and search through her bag. Will save time if we know what we're dealing with."

"No idea. Hey, Sasuke."

"Hn."

"Don't leave, kay?"

"I won't. But if you die on me right now, I am going to be seriously pissed."

"S'ok. Dying is ok if s'with your best friend," Naruto's head was lolling to the side, his breathing shallow.

"Fuck this," Sasuke picked flipped open his phone and called 911.

When they got to the hospital, Sasuke told them he was Naruto's brother. The nurse looked from the dark haired, black eyed, pale man, then at the tan blond, blue-eyed patient currently ODing. Sasuke just raised one eyebrow, daring her to refute his claim. She sighed and let him come into the ER with him. They had been there about 30 minutes when a red-haired, green-eyed man with a tattoo on his forehead flung open the door and stalked in. The nurse accompanying him simply looked at the three wildly disparate-looking figures in the room and just rolled her eyes. "His other 'brother' just got here as well."

Sasuke and Gaara eyed each other cautiously. Gaara was the first to speak. "How is Naruto?"

Sasuke jerked a bit at the man's use of Naruto's real name, then remembered that the blonde woman - Temari? - had also let the name slip just before she ran out to get help. If Naruto had trusted them with his real name, they must mean something to him.

"You must be Gaara. He's stable. But that washed-up doctor of yours almost killed him. Why the hell do you have someone like her treating him?"

Gaara looked extremely pissed. "When she's sober, she's the best doctor in Japan. But I am absolutely going to kill her for this."

Sasuke looked appreciatively at the young man who positively radiated intent to kill and dismember with his glare. He could definitely appreciate a good death glare.

"You need to get out of here, Uchiha Sasuke. What name did you give when you signed Naruto in to the hospital?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow that the man knew who he was, but answered the question. "Ichiraku Menma. I signed as his brother, Miso." Gaara's lips twitched.

Just then Temari walked in. "Let me guess... you're Naruto's sister now?"

She ignored Sasuke, and turned to Gaara. "How is he?"

"He'll be fine. He's just sleeping it off now. He'll be out of here by tomorrow. But we have a more important issue right now. It's only a matter of time before one of the nurses recognizes Sasuke. He needs to get out of here and not be seen. The hospital records are fine, he didn't give his name, but you need to erase all the video feeds that show Sasuke in the hospital. And it needs to be done in the next 10 minutes."

Temari just smirked and left the room, clearly confident that this would not be an issue.

"She was checking on him after the fight when she went to his room, wasn't she?" Sasuke asked.

A smile ghosted across Gaara's face. "Yeah. She likes to yank Naruto's chain making him think she's after him, but she loves him like a brother. She knows Naruto is the most loyal friend I have ever had, and he would never touch her." Gaara's smile faded, and he now turned his death glare on Sasuke. "I don't know what your relationship with Naruto is, but he would crawl through a field of broken glass for you. If you fuck him over in any way, I will personally disembowl you. Slowly."

Sasuke looked at the smaller man. He believed him.

"You need to be out of here before the press comes," Gaara said flatly. Sasuke didn't want to leave until Naruto had woken up, but the doctor had assured him that he would be fine. And Gaara was right. It would ruin everything if they were seen together at this point. They were so close to ending this, he couldn't blow it now.

. . . . . . . . . .

Sasuke got back to his apartment. His head was swimming with the events of the evening. He remembered what Temari had said " _Naruto, you are the straightest guy I know..."_

Sasuke looked at the clock. It was just past 2am. Plenty of time. He changed he clothes and headed out to Suigetsu's house, where he knew the party would still be going. He decided was going to take the first blond idiot who hit on him and screw him into the floor for about twelve hours. Then hopefully when he saw Naruto later that week, he would be able to control himself enough to not throw the blond on the floor and jump him.

-xXx-

**to be continued...**

A/N - Please comment and let me know what you think!


	6. The assassin

-xXx-

Naruto woke up in the hospital early that morning to see Temari sitting in the chair next to him, a huge smirk on her face. He groaned. "Tell me... please tell me that I didn't really do what I think I remember doing. Tell me that was some sort of drug induced hallucination."

"Oh, you mean about making a complete ass of yourself in front of your smoking hot friend that you haven't seen for four years? No, that was totally real."

Naruto closed his eyes. _Fucking shit. I am so going to kill Tsunade._

"Since you're clearly awake and aware, let's get your ass out of here before Gaara burns this place down."

-xXx-

Sasuke woke up in the late afternoon feeling ill. Last night everything had been wrong. He couldn't get Naruto's kiss out of his head, and no amount of alcohol had been able to hide the fact that the man he was with was not Naruto. Wrong feel, wrong smell, wrong taste, wrong voice. When the memories of Naruto had been faded with time and separated by distance, it had worked. But not anymore. Sasuke had come to the conclusion that there was not enough alcohol in all of Japan to fool himself that there was anyone other than Naruto that he wanted to be with. And he had put that theory to the test last night.

But he had bigger things that he needed to focus on. Things that he could actually do something about. Whatever messed up emotions he might have right now would just have to wait. He was an Uchiha. Emotional suppression was genetically encoded into his being. He'd deal with Danzo. Then he figure the rest of this shit out.

He heard a knock on his bedroom door.

"What," he hissed.

"Delivery for you, Sasuke-San," his housekeeper said.

Delivery? He never got deliveries except from...

"Bring it in."

His housekeeper came in with the second most hideous boquet that Sasuke had ever seen. Somehow he already felt better. She put it on his nightstand, and he reached over to pull out the full-sized card that came with it, and flicked it open.

_Um, yeah. So I am thinking that "my bad" doesn't exactly cover this one. Sorry for being such an ass last night. Hope you are not fleeing to Canada under a false name. I am pretty sure I can promise that I will be drug free and will not assault you next time. Um... not really sure what to say? But, thanks. I know you probably wanted to run like hell, but I am really glad you stayed. - YTH_

It took Sasuke's still alcohol hazed brain a few seconds to figure out what YTH stood for.

_"_ Pfft," Sasuke snickered. Was it any wonder he loved that guy? As the thought crossed his mind, Sasuke literally groaned. How many stupid mistakes could he really make in a 24-hour period? _Way to go, idiot. Fall for your straight best friend. Weren't you supposed to be a genius or something?_

-xXx-

Naruto chatted with the guests at Nagato's compound. Most of them were already pretty wasted, and the conversations were getting interesting. Naruto was holding the same drink he had been since he arrived. But no one noticed. He wasn't a threat. He was someone to joke with, to boast to... to share a girl with. He was one of them, even if he hadn't officially joined up. Everyone felt comfortable with him. And they admired his fighting skills.

He had yet to see the Nagato tonight, but it was not uncommon for him to miss these, due to his health. But he had already spoken with Kakuzu, Deidara, and Kisame. He was just patting himself on the back for successfully avoiding Hidan, when he heard the man call his name from nearby. "Menma! I heard you were here," he waved Naruto over.

Seeing no immediate escape, Naruto reluctantly went over. There were days when Hidan was fucking hilarious, and days when he was flying over the religious cuckoo's nest. Unfortunately for Naruto, today was one of the latter type days. Naruto felt his eyes slowly glaze over as the man ranted on and on about random details of the weird cult he belonged to. When someone interrupted Hidan to ask a question about Nagato's health, Naruto took it for the small miracle it was and slipped into the door to the hallway before Hidan could spot him. He had planned on just re-entering the dining room from the other entrance further down the hall (conveniently at the opposite end of the room from where Hidan was), but a motion in a small room across the hall caught his attention. He saw a figure disappear into the darkness of the unlit room. He froze, not believing what he saw. He quickly walked to the room, fear clutching at his chest. "Sasuke, are you out of your fucking mind?" he hissed into the room, looking up and down the hallway to be sure they were completely alone. "You have to get the hell out of -"

He cut off as the person in the room turned to face him. It was not Sasuke. But the resemblance was unmistakable. This man was a little older, and his hair was longer and tied into a ponytail at the nape of his neck. Naruto opened his mouth, but the eyes of the man before him stopped him from speaking. He had no idea how it happened, but without saying a single word he was able to convince Naruto to turn and walk out of the room immediately and not say another word. Naruto heard a voice from the hallway, and slowly stepped out of the smaller room.

"Menma, what are you doing?" It was one of the other guests, but Naruto's brain was too frozen to recall it.

"I, uh... just forgot where the bathroom was."

Somehow Naruto managed to make it through the rest of the evening. He saw no further sign of the man he had seen earlier. But he was pretty sure he knew who it was.

-xXx-

Naruto was a bundle of nerves as he headed for the meeting place that Shikamaru had arranged. He had asked if Sasuke was coming, and Shikamaru had said yes. He had to trust that. He didn't know what he would do if Sasuke didn't show up, but he had to tell him about Itachi. And he needed to do it face-to-face, in case he needed to physically restrain his friend from charging off and getting himself killed. He got to the hotel Shikamaru had arranged. It had an alley entrance where there were no cameras, and he had told Naruto which room he would be in, so Naruto could bypass the front desk.

He sat down just inside the side entrance and pulled out his sketch pad. He sketched the face that he had been too afraid to set down on paper where there was any chance at all of someone finding it. It took him a little longer than he thought to get it right, but somehow he knew how important it would be to be absolutely sure. He blew out a sharp breath and ran up the 3 flights of stairs, taking them two at a time. He was a little late, and he didn't want to keep them waiting. His black hoodie was pulled up in case there were cameras he didn't know about.

He got to the room and knocked quietly 5 times. The door opened, and Shikamaru let him in. The room had a small sitting area, and Sasuke was seated in a chair by the desk. Naruto greeted Shikamaru and pushed back his hood, running his hands through his hair, using the extra couple seconds to try to assess Sasuke's state of mind.

"Hey, Sasuke. Um, I'm... sorry I was so insane the other night. Ah... did you get my note?"

A small smile flickered across Sasuke's lips. "Yeah. It's ok. We're good."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow in question, but neither man addressed it.

"OK," Naruto continued to fidget and look uncertain. Sasuke frowned. He shouldn't be this nervous. Didn't he just tell him they were good?

"Naruto, seriously. It's ok. I'm not pissed off."

"Yeah, that's actually not what I'm worried about. Look, Sasuke. I have something that I want to tell you. Or, I guess... ask you. But, it's a little hard. And I don't want to mess you up, so -"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Cut to the chase, Naruto. You're going to make him think you are going to propose or something."

Naruto flinched, and laughed a little. "Right. OK. So, Sasuke. I met someone at a party two nights ago. And I drew his face. And I want you to tell me who this person is."

Shikamaru went utterly still.

Sasuke just shrugged. "What, are you giving me a pop quiz to see if I studied all the ones you sent? Seriously, I'm good with faces, just give me the -"

"No, Sasuke," the intensity of Naruto's voice puzzled Sasuke. "I need you to brace yourself. This isn't... this isn't a test. I'm trying not to fuck you up with this, but I don't really know how to do it. I'm not good at this kind of shit."

Sasuke had an almost surreal feeling, a subconscious thought trying to surface, but his conscious mind was shutting it down. "Show me."

Naruto tore the page out of his sketchbook, his eyes locked on Sasuke's. He placed it face down on the table in front of him. For some reason that he couldn't explain, Sasuke's hand trembled a bit when he reached to turn the drawing over. When he did, he just stared. He looked up at Naruto, and the raw hope and anguish in his eyes almost brought the blond to his knees. "Itachi's alive? You saw him?"

Naruto nodded, keeping his eyes locked on Sasuke's, seeing the wild emotions there threatening to spiral out of control.

"Is he alright? What... what was he doing? Why hasn't he _contacted_ me? It's been 4 fucking _years_! Doesn't he know how much I -" Sasuke choked up, and Naruto went and put his hands on the man's shoulders.

"He's alright, at least physically. I didn't get to talk to him. Sasuke, I'm sorry. I tried to find a better way to tell you, but I was afraid if I said it was him, and then it turned out to be some distant relative or something, that would be so much worse. But please, I need you to listen to me. I know this is really hard, but I need you to not lose it yet. I need to tell you a lot of things so that you can understand. Then the three of us are going to figure out what to do, about taking down Danzo and bringing Itachi back."

Sasuke closed his eyes, and nodded, visibly swallowing his emotions and trying to regain control. His hands were still shaking, and Naruto ached for his friend.

"I said that I knew that Danzo was the one who did it. And I said that I have proof," Naruto looked over at Shikamaru, then back to Sasuke. "It's a little complicated, and you have to connect the dots a bit. So try to be patient and let me walk you through what I know. Then you can ask me whatever you want, and I'll answer if I know. Ok?"

Both men nodded. "Ok. So a week after your parents were killed, this man's body was found." Naruto pulled out a police sketch of a face of a man that Sasuke didn't recognize, labeled as 'name unknown'. "They had to sketch his face, because they couldn't use a photo of the body. The reason they couldn't use a photo, was because this guy had been sliced to ribbons. Not maniacally, by some crazy person in a rage. But very methodically, and precisely. It's a pretty safe bet that anything this guy knew was told to his killer before he died. I was able to... obtain the medical report from the police. I gave it to Tsunade. And she was able to determine that the cuts were made by a single weapon. Specifically, a slightly curved, single-edged blade about 60 cm long. And it was wielded by an expert."

Sasuke's eyes widened as he took that in. The description of the blade perfectly described a katana. Itachi had been an expert swordsman, and had specialized with his katana. Naruto had been waiting for Sasuke to finish processing, and he nodded. Then continued.

"Different Yakuza factions often have specific tattoos that represent different things, either rank or skill or tenure. Here are photos of the tattoos that this guy had on his arms and chest," Naruto handed the photos to Shikamaru and Sasuke. "Danzo is a big fan of the underground fights. He used to come to most of the matches, and many of his crew would come, too. They run some of the gambling on the fights, but also they just like to watch. After I started to gain attention on the circuit, I got invited to dinners and parties at Danzo's compound just outside of Tokyo. This is a sketch of the arms of one of the guys that at the first meeting I had there. He asked me to spar with him, and he took off his shirt." Naruto tore another sketch out of his book, and slid it over. It matched one of the tats on the dead man exactly. "A little while later, I met this kid at one of Danzo's parties."

He slid another sketch over. The kid looked like a younger version of the dead man. "He was pretty drunk, and seemed upset. I guess I was a sympathetic listener. He told me that his older brother was missing. That he had been sent on an important job for Danzo, but hadn't come back. Before he passed out, though, he said that at least his brother's work had been in the papers the entire summer, and the country was still talking about it almost a year later. That year, the papers didn't have any story bigger than the death of your family. I asked the kid what his brother's name was, and had a friend run a check on him." Naruto slid another paper over. "There weren't any recent photos of him, which is probably why the police weren't able to identify his body, but it turns out that this guy was a demolitions expert for a construction company owned by Uchiha Enterprises until about eight years ago, when he was fired for being drunk on the job."

Naruto paused now, and looked between Shikamaru and Sasuke. "You guys following so far?"

Sasuke was still staring at the sketch of the man who had killed his family. Shikamaru was the one who spoke. "So basically, a guy who worked for Danzo and had a grudge against Uchiha Enterprises blew up the house, and Itachi most likely caught him and killed him."

"Right. But the guy didn't kill Sasuke's parents because of a grudge. He tried to take out the entire family because Danzo ordered him to."

Shikamaru frowned. "Where do you get that from this? And if he wanted Sasuke dead too, why is he waiting so long to finish the job? Sasuke might have good security, but no one in invulnerable. It's been four years. He must have had chances."

Naruto nodded. "Right. That brings us to part two of the story. Why he did this in the first place. Sasuke - do you know what happens when people die without a will?"

"Yeah, if they are intestate, then all property goes to the closest living relative. But my parents didn't die intestate. They left everything to Itachi and me."

"But if you had all died, did the will specify who Uchiha Enterprises would go to?" Shikamaru asked.

"I... don't really know. I would assume so. I mean, if you have a multi-billion dollar estate, the lawyers must -"

'No, they didn't," Naruto cut Sasuke off. "Who do you think your next living relative is, Sasuke?"

Sasuke didn't hesitate. "It is Shisui-san. But I've known him for years, and the police looked into him as well. I know he is not connected with this at all."

"You're right that he is not connected. But you are wrong that he is your closest living relative. So were the police."

"..." Sasuke just looked at Naruto for a minute. "Then who the hell is it?"

"Do you remember hearing the name Uchiha Madara?"

"Madara! He emigrated to the US like 15 years ago, after a big rift in the family. But I know for a fact that the way the governance for Uchiha Enterprises are set up, you have to be a Japanese citizen to inherit, and you have to be living in Japan. Madara wouldn't meet either one of those criteria."

"Wrong again," Naruto said, and pulled out another two documents. The first showed the re-emigration of one Uchiha Madara back to Japan five years ago. The second was a moderate size financial holding jointly owned by Madara and Danzo. "He's been back for at least five years. And he is in business with Danzo."

Shikamaru's brows were drawn together. Finally he spoke. "So that is why they didn't kill Sasuke right away. Sasuke wouldn't have Itachi declared legally dead. He put enough doubt out there that no one could over-rule him. So if Sasuke died, the Itachi would still be listed as the heir, and it wouldn't pass to Madara. He needed either for Sasuke to give up and have Itachi declared dead, or..."

"Or he needed to find Itachi and kill him, so that he could then produce a body and have the matter settled. Which is why Itachi has been in hiding," Sasuke finished.

"He was in hiding because it protected you, and possibly also let him start taking action without getting caught, like with that demolitions guy," Shikamaru continued.

Naruto pretended to scowl. "Ok, so that took me like 6 months to figure out, and you guys put it together in 2 minutes."

They all laughed a little, but then went back to staring at all the papers in front of them. "So, Sasuke. Do you have a will?" Shikarmaru asked.

"No. I guess that is pretty stupid, right? I would have left the company to Shisui anyway, so I figured why bother? But I should definitely make one out, if it will put Uchiha Enterprises out of Madara's reach and get Itachi and me off the hit list."

Naruto looked at them and rolled his eyes. "Here I was just thinking that you both were so smart. If it were that easy, don't you think Itachi would have just sent you a letter and told you to do that right after he offed the guy who set the bomb? Why do you think he didn't?"

Shikamaru and Sasuke exchanged glances. Naruto pulled a sketch out of the pile and slapped it down in front of them. "Remember him? All it would do is add to his 'to do' list. How many of your cousins do you want to have to bury? The amount of money that this company is worth can buy a lot of silence." They all stared at the sketch of Danzo's top hit-man.

"So basically you're saying that the only way to keep Sasuke and Itachi safe is to kill Madara and Danzo," Shikamaru said flatly.

"Unless you come up with something better."

"Why do you think we are running out of time?" Sasuke asked.

"I would guess either Danzo has decided that enough time has passed with no word of Itachi that he could successfully go to court and have Itachi legally declared dead, or..." Naruto trailed off.

"... or he's found Itachi," Shikamaru finished for him. All three men looked grim.

-xXx-

The night's match had been tough. Next to Gaara, this had been Naruto's most challenging opponent yet. It had lasted the full set of rounds, and been decided on points. Naruto had won, but his body had taken a beating, and he was exhausted. Gaara was walking with him. Temari had gone to fetch Shizune (Naruto had put his foot down about Tsunade unless he was literally dying and she was given a breathalyzer first). They walked into the locker room together. Naruto was covered with sweat and a little of his opponent's blood, and he wanted nothing more than to shower off and go to sleep. He turned on the shower and had just pulled off his clothes when Gaara called him over. Naruto quickly wrapped a towel around his waist and walked over.

"This was on the table," Gaara said, indicating the reclining medical table where Naruto was usually treated after a match. It was a plain envelope, with his name written on it in a neat, precise hand that Naruto did not recognize. It was strange, because this room was always locked during his matches. Naruto opened it, and pulled out a small scrap of paper with a red string attached, and a note. He recognized the paper immediately. It was the prayer and promise he had tied to the incense at the Uchiha manor the day he had gone to see Sasuke. Itachi's name was written on the outside. Naruto's hand shook as he opened the small note enclosed with it.

_They're going after him tonight._

Gaara had felt no qualms reading the note over Naruto's shoulder, and he saw the look of sheer panic on his friend's face. Gaara reached in his pocket and handed Naruto his cell.

"Go. I will call you on this number in 24 hours. You have cash in your bag. Find him, and go to ground. Don't talk to anyone once you find him."

Naruto nodded, fighting down the panic. He knew who Danzo would send. What he didn't know for sure was exactly where Sasuke was. Due to tight security, the papers often had misleading information on where he was or what he was doing. But Shikamaru would know. Naruto quickly pulled on his black jeans, tank top and hoodie, not bothering with the shower he had craved earlier. He wiped his face so he could pass a quick inspection and not look bloody, though there was nothing he could do about the bruise on his cheekbone.

But it was already night, and he would need to keep to the shadows anyway. Hopefully no one would see his face. He was just headed out the door when his friend's voice stopped him.

"Naruto. You know who Danzo will send. If you end up having to fight him, you know what you will need to do. You know what he is."

Naruto didn't look back, because he knew what Gaara would read in his eyes. "I will stop him from hurting Sasuke."

"Naruto -"

"Gaara - I will do what I need to do to protect my friend. But in the end, I am who I am. And I won't be able to go beyond that."

With that he ran down the corridor, dialing Shikamaru as he headed out into the night. Gaara had a sick feeling in his stomach. But he had work to do. He needed to get another disposable phone to replace the one he had just given Naruto so they could make contact after it was done. And he had to make arrangements for some sort of safe house for them to go to that would be completely untraceable. Temari walked in with Shizune and Kankuro, stopping in her tracks when she saw Gaara's face.

"What happened?"

...

Naruto was glad that they had planned ahead enough that Sasuke always let Shikamaru know where he would be, in case they needed to get ahold of him. As annoying as it was, it wasn't safe for direct communication between Naruto and Sasuke yet. Sasuke had told Shikamaru that he had a big business lunch with the executives of a large Russian conglomerate earlier that day, and was in Tokyo. Shikamaru had tried to call his cell, but Sasuke hadn't picked up. At least Shikamaru had known which hotel he was staying at, so Naruto had just gone directly there. It appeared to be some swanky business resort, with villas, pools, and landscaped lawns. Shikamaru wasn't sure what name Sasuke had used for checking in, though, and Naruto was wondering if he was going to have to go knocking door to door.

A figure moving silently across the courtyard caught Naruto's eye. He stayed perfectly still in the shadows, waiting until he had almost lost sight of the man before following equally silently. He had dreaded this. He had been hoping that he would be able to get Sasuke out of her before they had come. But it looked like his luck had not been good tonight. The figure had reached one of the larger villas in the back, and had thrown some sort of grappling hook attached to a rope up to a second story window. With fluid grace, he pulled himself onto the rope and began rapidly climbing up. Out of time, Naruto grabbed a fist-sized rock that was at his feet and threw it with all his strength at the head of the climbing man. Fortunately, he had always been good at sports, and the rock clipped the man behind the ear and his grip faltered. He fell to the ground, but landed on his feet, turning immediately to face Naruto. Before Naruto could even process it, a knife was flying directly at him. Sai's eyes widened when he realized who his opponent was.

"Sai. I'm sorry. I was really hoping it wasn't going to come to this. Please. I don't want to fight you. But I can't let you kill Sasuke."

Sai didn't say anything, he just pulled out another knife, and readied himself. Naruto knew that fighting Sai wouldn't be like fighting the opponents he was used to. Sai was trained to kill with the first strike. Second strike only if absolutely necessary. This would be over in seconds. And Naruto had already avoided the first strike, out of luck and quick reflexes. Naruto felt his hands sweat. But he did not try to take advantage of Sai's momentary surprise.

"You can tell Danzo it was me. Tell him you saw me taking Sasuke out just as you arrived. He won't blame you. He'll just come after me, and I'm ok with that."

"Why? Why would either of us risk something like that?" Sai looked honestly curious.

"Sasuke is my friend, way back from when we were kids. He helped me when no one else would. Sai... I can't let you kill him. Please don't make me fight you."

Sai looked at Naruto consideringly for a second. But he shrugged. "I have to complete my assignment. You need to stop me. Fighting is inevitable. Though I don't look forward to killing you." Sai frowned a bit, seemingly puzzled by his own comment.

With that, he launched himself at Naruto. He was fast... faster than even Gaara. Naruto saw the knife coming but couldn't avoid it in time. He felt it hit right above his heart, but it hit the rib and slid along and was deflected to the side rather than going straight in. Naruto was able to hit one of Sai's pressure points at the close distance, as he tried to twist the knife away, and they went down in a heap.

Naruto's heart was racing and he tried to determine if he was alright. He looked at Sai's face, and saw the shock etched there. He pulled away and saw the hilt of the assassin's blade sticking out of Sai's chest, just under his right arm. It most likely had pierced his lung, but not his heart. He would live if he got medical attention right away. Sai was looking at him, clearly waiting for him to finish it. Naruto reached down, and the man did not flinch. He reached into Sai's pocket, and pulled out the man's cell phone. He dialed 911. "There's been a stabbing. Send an ambulance."

Naruto tossed the cell down next to the shocked man, leaving it open so they could locate the phone and the injured man.

"Why?" then man asked, looking completely confused. He had lost. Naruto should have killed him. It didn't make any sense.

"Because I can't kill a friend," Naruto turned and ran to the rope, quickly climbing it. He assumed that Sai knew exactly which window to go through to avoid Sasuke's security detail. He'd get Sasuke and run like hell before the ambulance or Sai's back-up could arrive.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Sasuke was currently face down in his bed wearing just the black sweatpants he had pulled on after his shower. _Fucking Russians and their fucking vodka_. The lunch had started at noon, and by 4pm when it ended Sasuke had been totally wasted. Fortunately, he was more than capable to continue functioning in that state, so business had concluded successfully, and he had staggered back to his hotel and landed in bed. It was now 11 o'clock at night, and he was finally coming back to himself. He was about to get out of bed and call room service for some dinner, when he heard the sound of a window sliding open from the other room.

Sasuke kept his breathing slow and even. So much for Kakashi's 'top notch' security, he thought dryly. He slipped his hand under his pillow, where he kept his butterfly knife. Ever since his conversation with Naruto, he always kept it with him. When he heard the soft footfall in his room, he whipped it out and threw it in one fluid motion. For the second time in less than 15 minutes, Naruto just barely dodged a knife coming at his chest. The knife grazed his right arm just below the shoulder, and passed through with a thunk into the wall behind him.

"Fucking knives! Dammit Sasuke!" Naruto whispered furiously, grabbing his arm.

"Naruto? You idiot! I could have killed you!"

"If you'd learn to answer your fucking phone, shit like this wouldn't happen. Hurry up and pull a shirt and some shoes on. We have to get out of here now. Leave your cell here, or they'll trace it. We're going out the window."

Sasuke was glad he had sobered up. He didn't waste time on questions quickly pulled on a dark blue button-down shirt and slipped into some shoes. He grabbed his wallet as Naruto was already heading out the window again. He followed, glad he still went to the gym enough to have decent upper body strength as he looked down at the ground two stories below. His attention caught on a figure lying still in the grass, but he didn't question Naruto on it. He could hear sirens approaching. They ran quickly across the grass and Sasuke again just silently followed Naruto's lead as they climbed over a stone wall and jumped down into an alley. Naruto pulled the hood of his sweatshirt up over his hair, realizing belatedly that he should have told Sasuke to grab a hat or a jacket with a hood as well. But it was too late now.

"Sasuke, flag down a cab. We have to get the hell out of here."

Sasuke did, though he wondered why Naruto didn't do it himself and instead was seeming to be avoiding the light from the streetlamp as much as possible. As soon as one stopped, they both jumped in and Naruto gave him directions to a part of town close to the redlight district. Sasuke didn't question it. If they needed a hotel that would take cash and not ask questions to hide out in for a while, this was the place to go. When the cab let them out, Naruto started walking south. But as soon as the cab had disappeared from sight, he turned west. "Don't make eye contact, and don't walk like we're together. Follow me from half a block away and when I stop in front of a hotel and take out my cell, I want you to go in and book a room. Wait for me by the elevators. I will follow you in 5 minutes. Only pay cash, and don't give them your real name."

"Paranoid, much?" Sasuke feigned annoyance, but he hadn't forgotten the figure laying in the grass just outside his room, and had noticed the way Naruto was moving stiffly as if he were injured. He was glad Naruto seemed to have thought this through, truth be told, since his brain was only just now coming out of its Vodka induced stupor. It was one of the few times in his life he simply did as he was told.

. . . . . . . . .

They got into the hotel room, and Naruto quickly pulled the curtains closed while Sasuke locked the door and angled a chair against it. When Naruto turned to double-check the door, Sasuke's eyes widened and he felt panic tighten his stomach. In the full light of the room, he was able to make out the dark patches of what appeared to be quite a lot of blood all over Naruto's sweatshirt, not to mention a bruise on his face.

"What the hell? You're covered with blood. Dammit, Naruto! Why didn't you say something? Every time I see you you need a fucking hospital?"

"Calm down. Most of this isn't mine. We absolutely can't risk going to a hospital. I have first aid stuff in my pack. Anyway, I'm fine," Naruto still felt the adrenaline pumping through him. Three fights in one night was more than his nervous system could take.

"Who was that guy on the lawn?" Sasuke said, already knowing the answer.

"Danzo's assassin. The one I warned you about. I had wanted to get there before him, but..." Naruto scrubbed his hands through his hair. He still had a sick feeling about the fight. He hoped Sai was ok. And was also afraid about what would happen if he was. He wasn't naïve. But he didn't want to have that conversation with Sasuke. He could see Sasuke opening his mouth to ask about what happened, but he quickly distracted him with the one topic he knew would work.

"Itachi was the one who told me it was going to happen tonight." Sasuke's head snapped up at Naruto's words. "He must have gotten my name from someone at Nagato's, or recognized me somehow from back then. I came back from my fight tonight and he had left me a note in my locker room. If I had been able to end that fucking fight earlier, I could have been here early enough to avoid Sai." Naruto blew a breath out noisily, clearly upset. "But at least we know Itachi is ok. He must have been able to avoid whoever Danzo sent if he was able to get that note to me."

Naruto sat in the chair and rubbed a hand across his face. His body and mind were both at their limit for stress and fatigue.

Sasuke looked at his friend, reading the tirenedness and tension. "Can I... see the note?"

Naruto heard the raw emotion in Sasuke's voice. He pulled his pack open and handed it to Sasuke, not knowing what to say to his friend. Long fingers smoothed over the writing on the outside of the plain envelope. "That's his writing," Sasuke whispered, a smile ghosting across his face. "He's really alive. Thank god." He opened the envelope and saw both the small prayer and the note. He looked questioningly at Naruto.

Naruto flushed, feeling a little embarrassed about the note he had left at the mansion that day. It wasn't a part of a traditional ritual or anything. Naruto had his own sense of spirituality and he had just followed what he felt. It was his way of feeling like he could send a message to the people who had mattered most to his friend. Sasuke was oddly touched by the gesture, and gave another small smile as he tucked both pieces of paper back into the envelope.

"You can keep it, if you want," Naruto said, sounding a little hesitant. "We'll find Itachi as soon as Gaara gets us settled in a safer location. But for now... you can keep it."

Naruto instinctively knew that Sasuke had wanted to touch something that held a direct link to his brother, and judging by the expression on his friend's face as he stared at the envelope, he knew he was right. Deciding to give his friend some privacy with his thoughts, Naruto walked to the bathroom to clean himself up and assess the damage he had taken tonight. He pulled some suture tapes and gauze from his pack, and grabbed a washcloth, soaking it with warm water. Pulling off his hoodie, he sat on the edge of the bed in his tank top and black jeans. The cut to his arm from Sasuke wasn't so bad. The knife had just grazed him and sliced the skin, but the muscle was ok. The slice along his rib hurt a hell of a lot more, and was deeper, but given that he would have been dead if the knife hadn't caught the rib, he wasn't going to complain.

A shadow fell over him and he looked up, surprised to see Sasuke standing next to where he was sitting.

"Here, let me do that, since I am the one who gave it to you," Sasuke said brusquely, taking the washcloth from Naruto. The bed dipped as his friend sat next to him and began wiping around the gash in his arm. When most of the blood was washed there, he applied a bandage to the gash, then looked down to the slash in Naruto's shirt where Sai's knife had cut through. Naruto flinched when Sasuke lifted the hem of Naruto's tank top up enough to see the cut and grimaced. "Shit, you were lucky with this one. Take this off."

Naruto shifted uncomfortably.

"What are you, Nurse Sasuke? I can do it myself. I'm pretty used to it by now. All grown up and shit," Naruto growled, trying to cover the coil of tension he had felt in his stomach when Sasuke had lifted his shirt. I mean, here they were, sitting on a bed. Alone. In a hotel room. That charged by the hour. And had very interesting things on the nightstand.

"Look, you got the shit beat out of you _twice_ already today, and you are probably already stiffening up. Plus, you won't be able to see what's on your back. Just take your shirt off."

Naruto looked at him for a moment, trying to determine if Sasuke was intentionally messing with him. Sasuke just quirked a brow.

"For fuck's sake," Naruto grumbled. _Please don't let me get a hard-on from this._

Annoyed at his own stupidity, Naruto jerked his tanktop over his head, hissing as it tugged on the cut on his side.

Sasuke's face went completely blank. Naruto wondered briefly if he had more bruises than he had thought, or if Sasuke was just freaked out by all the blood that had soaked through his shirt.

"Look, don't worry. I can do this. Like I said, most of the blood isn't mine anyway." He tried to take the washcloth back, but Sasuke just glared at him and shoved his hand away.

"We already had this discussion. Just shut up and sit still." He slowly wiped along Naruto's rib, getting the dried blood off. Naruto noticed his friend's hand was shaking a little. _He must really not like the sight of blood._ He took three of the suture tapes that Naruto had in his bag and applied them to the deep gash, then went to the bathroom to rinse out the washcloth. Naruto heard Sasuke blow out a long breath.

"Look, if the blood makes you queasy or whatever, just let me do it," Naruto said,standing up from the bed. Sasuke came back, a faint flush across his cheekbones, and wordlessly started wiping the blood from Naruto's chest. Sasuke was standing so close... just a few inches away. Naruto could smell the shampoo that Sasuke used. That combined with the feel of Sasuke's hand that was resting lightly on Naruto's back while the other hand washed his torso was starting to make Naruto feel a little dizzy.

_Fuck. This is totally karma paying me back for jerking off to my best friend. Fuck, fuck, fuck..._ Naruto gritted his teeth and tried to think of something else. Anything at all. But his brain just kept focusing on the sensation of Sasuke's hands on him. Naruto jerked as Sasuke shifted the hand on his back as he moved to a different spot on Naruto's chest with the washcloth.

"It's fine, I can do it," Naruto said brusquely. Sasuke ignored him. The washcloth dipped toward Naruto's stomach. Naruto's hand shot out and grabbed Sasuke by the wrist. Hard.

"I said stop."

"Don't be a baby. It can't hurt that much. Like you said, most of this blood isn't even yours," Sasuke said, twisting his wrist to try to free it.

Naruto tightened his grip on Sasuke's wrist and jerked it to the side, further away from his body.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and stepped forward, closing the gap so their bodies were almost touching. "Let go," Sasuke's voice was low. They were eye to eye, almost perfectly level with each other.

Naruto tighted his grip even more, probably leaving a bruise. "Look, I hate to spell it out for you, Sasuke, but I'm not a kid anymore. Touching me like that is going to have unintended consequences. So unless you're saying 'go for it', I need you to just go sit on that chair over there across the room from me and let me do this myself. I'm _fine_ ," Sasuke's eyes drop to the front of Naruto's pants, where it was rapidly becoming quite clear exactly what he meant by 'unintended consequences'.

"Exactly. So just go sit over there and let me wash up," Naruto said firmly.

Sasuke looked back at Naruto and leaned in, a smirk forming on his lips. "What if those consequences aren't unintended?"

-xXx-

to be continued... (yes, will continue immediately with this scene. I won't be that mean. Also backstory of Sai's relationship with Naruto will be explained, along with scenes with Itachi)

A/N - if you enjoyed this, **please comment**


	7. Red light district

-xXx-

 _Fuck. This is totally karma paying me back for jerking off to my best friend. Fuck, fuck, fuck..._ Naruto gritted his teeth and tried to think of something else. Anything at all. But his brain just kept focusing on the sensation of Sasuke's hands on him. Naruto jerked as Sasuke shifted the hand on his back as he moved to a different spot on Naruto's chest with the washcloth.

"It's fine, I can do it," Naruto said brusquely. Sasuke ignored him. The washcloth dipped toward Naruto's stomach. Naruto's hand shot out and grabbed Sasuke by the wrist. Hard.

"I said stop."

"Don't be a baby. It can't hurt that much. Like you said, most of this blood isn't even yours," Sasuke said, twisting his wrist to try to free it.

Naruto tightened his grip on Sasuke's wrist and jerked it to the side, further away from his body.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and stepped forward, closing the gap so their bodies were almost touching. "Let go," Sasuke's voice was low. They were eye to eye, almost perfectly level with each other.

Naruto tighted his grip even more, probably leaving a bruise. "Look, I hate to spell it out for you, Sasuke, but I'm not a kid anymore. Touching me like that is going to have unintended consequences. So unless you're saying 'go for it', I need you to just go sit on that chair over there across the room from me and let me do this myself. I'm _fine_ ," Sasuke's eyes drop to the front of Naruto's pants, where it was rapidly becoming quite clear exactly what he meant by 'unintended consequences'.

"Exactly. So just go sit over there and let me wash up," Naruto said firmly.

Sasuke looked back at Naruto and leaned in, a smirk forming on his lips. "What if those consequences aren't unintended?"

Naruto's brain literally froze. There was no way that Sasuke was saying what he thought he just said. "Uh -"

Sasuke shoved Naruto against the wall, closing the distance between their bodies completely and kissed him. Hard. Naruto was too shocked at first to even respond. He could faintly taste alcohol on his friend's breath. He grabbed Sasuke by his shoulders and pushed him out to arms length, but didn't let go entirely.

"I'm not playin' here, Sasuke. You have about 10 seconds to tell me that this is some kind of bastardly joke because you're still a little drunk, or because I was an ass that day in the locker room, or whatever, and go lock yourself in the bathroom until I cool myself down. You have _no fucking idea_ how much I -"

Sasuke slammed him back against the wall again and kissed him, hard enough for Naruto to lose his breath along with any remaining thoughts of stopping this. Instead, he fisted his hands into Sasuke's hair and tried to devour him whole. Sasuke felt the exhilaration at Naruto's response to him arc down his body and go straight to his cock. He wondered vaguely if he was going to come just from Naruto's kiss. For the past year, Sasuke had been telling himself that this would never happen, because Naruto was straight. Apparently, Naruto wasn't so straight. Sasuke's brain latched onto that thought like a vice.

"God, Sasuke," Naruto panted, sucking his way down his friend's pale neck, feeling Sasuke's shivering response. "You are so fucking hot."

He pulled open Sasuke's shirt, sending two buttons flying. He looked at the smooth pale abs and pecks, and down to where the man's erection was standing at full attention in his black sweat pants. "Oh, fuck," Naruto groaned, wrapping his hand around Sasuke's hard cock through his sweats. Sasuke pressed his body flush with Naruto's with his hands braced against the wall on either side of Naruto's head. The two stood there for a minute just feeling the tension and pounding desire radiating between their bodies.

"Ngh, Naruto..." Sasuke groaned, tilting his pelvis up to increase the pressure. The assault on his senses made him shudder. No one else had been able to reduce him to this state. He could barely breathe with the intense desire burning every nerve in his body raw.

Naruto began slowly pumping his hand on Sasuke's erection through the soft fabric, kissing along his collar bone. Sasuke fisted one hand into Naruto's hair, pulling his face up and thrust his tonge in hard. His other hand slid over Naruto's ass, pulling him closer and increasing the friction between them. Naruto flipped their positions and was pushing Sasuke up against the wall, pressing his entire length against the dark haired man.

"Sasuke..." he rasped, as his hands slid down Sasuke's waist and reached the waistband of his sweatpants. He trailed kisses along the pale man's throat, and collar bone, then took a long lick down his chest to his abs, tan hands wrapped around the pale waist. "Ha, just let me... ungh... let me..."

He slid Sasuke's pants down, unable to form words anymore. Which was fine, because Sasuke was past the point of being able to understand them anyway. Naruto wrapped one hand around Sasuke's cock and held the other at the pale waist, Sasuke's hands fisted in the blond's hair. At the sight of his friend's marble hard erection, Naruto felt his own cock jerk.

" _Ngh_ , Naruto..."

"God, I'm not going to last three minutes," Naruto gritted out. Sasuke wondered if his friend had said something, but all brain functions ceased when he felt Naruto's hand close around his dick and his tongue circle his head. He threw his head back, the cords in his neck straining, as he braced himself against the wall to keep from falling down as Naruto began to suck. Sasuke made an inarticulate sound as Naruto picked up the suction and the pace. Every piece of awareness seemed to be focused on where the mouth of his best friend was sucking his soul out through his cock. The rest of the universe had simply ceased to exist.

Sasuke felt his body clench, and tried to warn his friend, "Naruto, I'm... ugn, _fuck_!"

Sasuke came so hard he thought he might actually black out. Naruto's mouth continued to pump until every last tremor from his body had ceased, his own release coming without even unzipping his pants. Sasuke slid down the wall in a dazed heap, his pants still around his ankles. Naruto slumped back on the floor.

"Holy hell," Naruto panted. Sasuke fully agreed with his friend's statement, but wasn't quite able to connect with the speech part of his brain yet to respond.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, looking at each other. Then Sasuke smirked. And Naruto grinned.

"I thought you liked girls," Sasuke said.

"They're alright. I like you more," Naruto was still grinning like an idiot. "I thought you didn't like anybody."

"Hn... I might like you a little."

They snickered a bit, still trying to process what had just happened. Naruto looked down at his own body, still partially smeared with blood and sweat from the fight in the ring and the battle with Sai, then his exchange with Sasuke, and now his pants sticky with his own cum. "Ok, so I am covered with bodily fluids from so many guys right now I feel pretty trashy. I am going to go take a shower," he looked over at Sasuke, eyes darkening as he took in his lover's disheveled state. "It should not even be legal to look like you do right now."

Sasuke felt his blood heat at Naruto's look, despite having come not more than 5 minutes ago.

He kicked his sweatpants off to the side and lay there for a bit on the floor, trying to get his brain to talk to him again. He felt like his existence was somehow being redefined, and he wasn't in full control of it anymore. But instead of feeling panicked, as he normally would have, he felt somehow... content. But he couldn't get any further than that in his thought process. He heard the sound of the shower, and the mental image of Naruto in the shower had him fully hard again. He looked over at the bathroom door. It wasn't closed all the way. He decided to take that as an invitation. He remembered the bottle of massage oil that he had seen in Naruto's bag next to the suture tape and gauze bandages.

Naruto stood in the shower. He flinched a bit as the water washed over his cuts, and leaned his head against the wall of the shower. Sasuke had seemed pretty sober. But he sure as hell hoped this wasn't just because Sasuke had been drinking earlier. Or worse, because he felt grateful to Naruto for saving him or something stupid like that. He took the soap and started mechanically to wash himself, scrubbing away the layers of sweat and blood. He needed to talk to Sasuke. Find out what he was really thinking. He'd just have to control himself a little, and give his friend a way out in case this was all just some stupid misplaced gratitude or -

He felt a hand slide up his back. His whole body absolutely clenched. _Oh, God... how many times have I had this exact fantasy. "_ Holy fuck, Sasuke." His voice shook.

He felt Sasuke's mouth at the back of his neck, and he arched into it despite himself. So much for trying to hold back. He felt like every drop of blood that had been in his brain 10 seconds ago had just rushed straight down to his dick. Who knew the circulatory system was plumbed that way?

Naruto could smell the scent of the his sandalwood massage oil blend with the steam of the shower. Sasuke had opened it and was rubbing along Naruto's spine, then continued down and began kneading the taught muscles of his ass. His hand reached around and found Naruto's erection and began to pump it in slow, long strokes. _And oh, God, it was impressive._ Sasuke shuddered. Naruto turned around and grabbed Sasuke by his hips and pulled the pale body flush with his.

"I was in here, heh... trying to tell myself to hold back and give you time to think about -"

"Tch," Sasuke pushed his erection against Naruto's. "Does it _feel_ like I am needing time to think about anything?"

Whatever Naruto's response might have been died in his throat as Sasuke went back to pumping his erection. When it was clear Naruto was beyond any further protest, Sasuke poured oil on his hands and rubbed them together with Naruto's hands, lacing their fingers together and pulling his friend flush against him again. He then slowly began rubbing the oil up Naruto's arms and over his chest, circling each nipple and gradually making his way down to the tattoo that was a source of endless fascination for him. Naruto stood with his eyes closed, his hands resting lightly on Sasuke's sides.

Naruto was literally shaking with desire, and wanted nothing more than to bury himself into Sasuke in that instant. But he had never been with a guy before, and wasn't really sure what the 'negotiation process' was for who fucked whom. At this point, he didn't even really care. He'd be happy either way, as long as it happened in the next 10 seconds. With a girl, it was clear what went where. And if Sasuke had been a girl, he would have just thrown her back against the wall, pulled her legs around him, and fucked her into next Tuesday. But Sasuke was clearly a guy - _minor brain short circuit as he looked down at Sasuke's perfect, engorged phallus thrusting against his -_ Naruto shuddered again, feeling a bit desperate to escalate this but not sure exactly what to do. _GoddammitwhatthefuckistheresomesecrethandshakeIamsupposedtofuckingknowIhavetofigurethisoutinthenextfivesecondsbecauseholyshitSasukeisinthefuckingshowerwithmeandIamsofuckinghard_

"Sasuke," Naruto's voice was tense with frustrated arousal.

"God, what are you _waiting for_ , Naruto? If you don't hurry up and fuck me I swear I am going to -"

Naruto never found out what Sasuke was going to do. Taking that as permission, Naruto shoved Sasuke against the shower wall, jerking Sasuske's head back and sucking on his neck while he pulled one of the hard, pale thighs up over his hip bone.  Gaining access, he thrust two oil-slicked fingers into Sasuke, harshly working the tight ring of muscle there. He wrapped his other hand around Sasuke's cock and began pumping, biting down on Sasuke's neck. He briefly thanked his time in the House of Porn for all the interesting discussions he had had with his housemates that let him know what to do in this situation. Sasuke's sensory system was briefly overloaded by the sudden flood of pleasure from so many different places on his body. 

Naruto continued to work his hands, fighting to keep control long enough to at least partially prepare his lover.

"Yes. Fuck, Naruto!" Sasuke ground out, his body already wracked with pleasure. " _Enough_. Do it now. _Unh_ , hurry _up._ "

Naruto didn't need to be told twice, and he quickly pulled his fingers out and drove into Sasuke with his oil-slicked cock in one hard thrust. Sasuke arched back at the sudden pressure. He wasn't used to receiving often and Naruto was... substantial. But with the first thrust Naruto hit the cluster of nerves inside Sasuke dead on, and any discomfort was instantly vaporized in the white-hot pleasure that seared through him.

"Right there, Naruto. Just... move... _fuck_!"

Naruto shifted both hands on Sasuke's hips, thrusting slowly, then building tempo. 

"Sa-Sasuke," Naruto choked out.

"I'm... close... don't... stop. Fuck me... harder," Sasuke grated out, looking through half-lidded eyes at his friend who was pounding him into oblivion, golden hair tangled in the spray of the shower, tan skin slick with oil and water, muscles straining with each thrust.

Naruto lifted and tilted Sasuke's hips, thrusting harder and faster into that spot. The sight of Sasuke, normally so reserved and refined, arched back naked in ecstasy with his face twisted in pleasure and his hair wet and tumbling into his eyes almost sent Naruto over the edge.

Sasuke came, arching back. He saw his stream of cum spray over Naruto's tattoo, and the sight sent a second wave of climax viscously tearing through him immediately after. The oil made the cum bead up on the skin, showing white against the black swirl of the tattoo and the gold of the flesh. Sasuke rubbed his hand over the tan torso, spreading his seed in show of primal possession before the water from the shower washed it away.

The intense, possessive look in the dark eyes drove Naruto into a crashing climax of his own, tan fingers leaving bruises on pale hips as he slammed into him in his release.

They stood locked together, panting, as the water continued to wash over them. Naruto slowly relaxed his death grip on Sasuke's hips, gently massaging the abused flesh and lightly kissing and nuzzling his lover's neck while their breathing slowed. Sasuke relaxed into the embrace, reveling in the overt display of affection from his friend. It was something he had never allowed with his previous lovers, wanting them out of his sight as soon as possible.

Slowly Naruto pulled out, then he pulled Sasuke down to sit on the floor of the shower with him, laying his head on the pale shoulder and wrapping a tan arm around Sasuke's waist while the warm water continued to relax them. Naruto hummed softly in Sasuke's ear, content to just hold his lover in the aftermath while his body regained equilibrium.

Again, Naruto was the first to recover his speech. "So... If this is going to become a regular thing with us I am going to have to invest in a cock ring or something. You made me cum in less than 10 minutes both times. It's just embarrassing."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, knowing he hadn't fared any better. And 10 minutes was a generous estimation. "Let's finish washing up before we use up all the hot water in the hotel."

The thought of Naruto and a cock ring was intriguing, though.

Had Naruto been with guys before? What was he comfortable with? At least there was no doubt at all that Naruto wanted him. Sasuke had sensed Naruto's hesitation in the shower, and in his pounding need to consummate things had taken the expedient path of just letting Naruto do what he was likely most used to. But Naruto had surprised him a little by at least knowing he needed to prepare his partner. So, maybe Naruto had some experience with guys? Sasuke found that thought singularly annoying. He jerked when he felt a tan finger smoothing between his brows.

"You're frowning," Naruto stood up, shut off the water and grabbed a towel to dry himself off. He tossed one to Sasuke.

"You're bleeding," Sasuke said. Naruto looked down to see the red on the towel. The gash on his ribs had opened up with all the activity.

"Well, I just lost my mansex virginity. I'm supposed to bleed, right?"

"Pffft. You are such an idiot," Sasuke said, but Naruto's statement pleased him, somehow. He didn't understand why the fact that Naruto seemed to have been with a lot of women didn't bother him, but the thought of another man did. _Whatever._ "Let's put more tape on that to hold you together."

Sasuke pulled on his sweat pants. Naruto looked down at his jeans, and took them over to the sink to wash them out. He'd have to make do with the towel until they dried.

"God, I'm starving. I haven't eaten in like 18 hours," Naruto grumbled, rummaging through his pack while Sasuke re-taped his side. He pulled out a couple of granola bars, and tossed one to Sasuke. "But we're stuck here until Gaara calls with instructions on where to go, so we'll have to make do with this for now."

"Go check by the mini-fridge. Maybe there is food there," Sasuke suggested. Naruto walked over, and rummaged around.

"Um... no food. Interesting stuff, though," he slanted a glance over at Sasuke. Sasuke felt an immediate response to the look, and raised a brow.

"I guess we shouldn't use any of these on our first date... or you won't respect me in the morning."

"Who says I respect you now?" Sasuke smirked.

"Asshole," Naruto grinned. "Maybe on our second date we can go to a bondage themed hotel. They'd have a better selection."

Sasuke wasn't entirely sure that Naruto was joking. He wasn't sure he _wanted_ Naruto to be joking.

"They definitely have an interesting assortment of lube and rubbers here, though. Flavored, self-heating..." Naruto had picked a few of these items up and was reading the labels with interest.

"I like your massage oil," Sasuke said without thinking. "It smells like you."

Naruto's eyes darkened at Sasuke's words, and he walked back over to the bed where Sasuke was lounging against the pillows. Naruto tossed whatever he had in his hands on the nightstand, and leaned over Sasuke, one arm on either side of his shoulders. Sasuke was in just his sweat pants, not having bothered with his ruined shirt, his damp hair tumbling into his eyes. He looked amazing. Naruto put his thumb and forefinger under Sasuke's chin and lifted his mouth to his, kissing him slowly. "You are absolutely the sexiest thing I have ever seen in my life," Naruto licked the side of Sasuke's neck, causing his friend to arch back and grit his teeth as goose bumps spread out over his skin. "I can't even go ten minutes without touching you."

"Who's asking you to wait?" Sasuke pulled him down on the bed. He ran his hands over Naruto's chest, then down over the tattoo. He could still hardly believe he actually was getting to touch him like this. He was already hard again. "So... you hadn't been with a guy before, then?" Sasuke asked casually.

Naruto lifted his head up from nuzzling the side of Sasuke's neck and gave an unbelievable sexy smile. "Nah... I was saving myself for you. How about you?"

Sasuke smirked, twisting his fists into the sheets to keep from just grabbing Naruto, flipping him over, and fucking him into the mattress. "You're not my first guy. But you are the first person I ever slept with sober."'

Naruto laughed. "You slut." Somehow it didn't surprise him that Sasuke would need some help loosening up enough for sex. He sure had hated it when all the girls had tried to force it on him when they were in school.

"You, ah, seemed to know what you were doing, though," Sasuke said, hooking his hands into the knot of the towel at Naruto's waist.

Naruto paused in his assault of Sasuke's neck to look up at him. "Is that a compliment or a question?"

"Both, I suppose," Sasuke admitted.

"Well, then. Thanks, and..." Naruto stretched out on his side, facing Sasuke, and began slowly running his hand up and down the smooth torso. "...I've had some strange jobs over the past several years, and I guess one of them was particularly educational on stuff like this. Lots of kinky people to talk to."

"You mean your work at Hinata-Sama's Adult Entertainment?"

Naruto made a strangled noise, blushing slightly. "You know about that?" Sasuke loved it that Naruto could still blush. He was such a contradiction. Outwardly, Naruto looked like such a tough guy. Tattooed fighter, not afraid to take a punch. But he was so honest and emotionally demonstrative. Sasuke particularly loved that last bit about him, since it was something he decidedly was not.

"I might have seen a few of the pictures."

"Oh really?" Naruto lowered his voice, and put his lips right next to Sasuke's ear. "Did you have a favorite then?"

Sasuke thought a bit. If Naruto was comfortable talking about it, then he supposed he could be as well. "You looked pretty good in shackles. But I have to say I did enjoy your showers."

Naruto ran his hand down Sasuke's chest and slid it lazily in circles on his lower abs, coming close but not quite touching Sasuke's erection. "Would you like to know just what it was that I was thinking about in the shower?"

"If you say Shakira, I'm going to hurt you."

"Hehe. Nope. Actually, on my very first day, Hinata told me to think about someone I found really attractive, but someone I could never actually have. Someone who was... out of my league. And the one I thought about... was you. And the first time I imagined what it would be like to fuck you, I came so hard even though I wasn't even touching myself. It was a little intense, and the first time I guess I realized I was bi. I mean... I hadn't had sex yet, so I hadn't really given it much thought before then. But... wow."

"So you thought about me a lot when you were there?" Sasuke's voice was rough. Naruto's hand had moved lower, stroking Sasuke's erection through his pants, curling his tan fingers around it and pumping slightly.

"Hmmmm... I wasn't joking when I said you had no fucking idea how much I wanted you. That house was full of all this insane sex stuff, and all I could think about was how unbelievable it would be to do just about any of it with you. Heheh. So, just so you know, you'll have to work pretty hard to find something that would push the boundaries with me, as long as it involves you."

Sasuke wondered if it was just him, or if the entire hotel heard his last thread of restraint literally snap. He fisted his hands into Naruto's hair and pulled him into an eating kiss, feeling the click of their teeth together. "You should be careful of what you offer," he whispered wetly into Naruto's ear, peeling off the towel that was around Naruto's waist, and finding his cock already fully hard and weeping. He wrapped his fingers around it and slowly licked the head, feeling a sense of power as he watched Naruto lose control. He sucked until he felt Naruto's body start to tense, then he spun the blond around and pinned him facing the headboard, and placed a biting kiss on the spot just below Naruto's ear.

" _Shit_ , Sasuke." Naruto's voice was shaking again. Sasuke loved it.

He rubbed oil along his erection and then stroked it over Naruto's ass. He reached around and slowly pumped the blond's engorged erection with one hand, and with the other he inserted two oiled fingers into him. Naruto tensed at the weird feeling, but didn't pull away. The pleasure of the hand on his dick immediately erasing any discomfort. And when Sasuke's fingers brushed against a particularly sensitive spot inside, Naruto let out a stream of curse words, all awkwardness forgotten.

"Grab the rails of the headboard, and don't let go," Sasuke instructed, already panting. Naruto gripped as instructed, and Sasuke positioned himself behind him, not stopping his ministrations to the blond's cock. He took a moment to admire the play of sinewed muscles across Naruto's back and shoulders, and the tapering if his waist to a tightly muscled ass. There was _nothing_ soft or girlish about this man's body. "God, Naruto," Sasuke breathed against the tan skin. "I... want to... fuck you... so much..."

With that he pulled Naruto's hips back and thrust in. Naruto grunted with the newness of the overly full sensation that was not altogether pleasurable, and slightly painful. But Sasuke was already moving, shifting the angle with each thrust until -

" _Fuck_! Right there," Naruto' knuckles were white as he gripped the rails of the headboard as Sasuke picked up the pace, hitting the cluster of nerves inside Naruto with each thrust. "Sasuke, _harder_. God!"

Sasuke had been trying to hold back, knowing Naruto wasn't used to this, but Naruto's words shut down all such thoughts and he completely let loose, pounding into his friend while his hand pumped mercilessly on his cock. "Naru-to!

"More, Sasuke. God. I want.. you to.. break me... in half. _Yes! Fuck_ ," Sasuke felt his body surge at Naruto's hoarse cries, and he fought his climax with every ounce of will to be sure he sent Naruto over first. His hands were shaking with the need to cum.

"God, Sasuke, I'm close. Ah - faster!" Sasuke complied, knowing that he wouldn't last much longer.

"Sa-su-ke, ahg!" Hearing Naruto shout his name and feeling his body clench around him sent Sasuke spiraling into a climax so hard it felt like it lasted an hour.

. . . . . . . . .

They were laying in bed, a tangle of limbs and sheets. Naruto didn't know if he could even move anymore. He felt Sasuke's hand slowly stroking along his back. And couldn't believe he actually felt himself getting hard. Again.

"God, Sasuke. I think for the past 4 hours I have either been hard or cumming. Aren't there warnings on those medications for old guys' dicks that if you have shit like this happen you're supposed to go to a hospital or something? This is insane. You are fucking killing me here. I have to tattoo a warning label on your ass or something. _Hot as hell... may cause death_."

"Pfft. Usuratonkachi. Come here."

. . . . . . . . .

Sometime much later, Naruto staggered out of the shower and collapsed into bed. Sasuke followed, equally exhausted. Naruto turned and pulled Sasuke's back flush with his chest, spooning their bodies together, his eyes already drifting closed in sleep. His fingers lightly stroking Sasuke's chest. Utterly exhausted from the long series of events in the past 24 hours, and slightly hypoglycemic due to lack of food, Naruto was already half asleep when his head hit the pillows. He had literally lost count at how many times they had had sex. How was this even physically possible? He wondered vaguely if he would ever recover, or simply die from energy loss. He felt so drained he wasn't sure. But it would be a hell of a way to go, so he didn't really mind either way.

Sasuke smirked. Naruto was so tired he didn't even realize he was saying half of it out loud. His words were so mumbled it was hard to make them out, especially when he continued through an enormous yawn. "...it's not every day you hook up with the person you've loved since you were ten. I just hope my body gets a little of this worked out of its system soon, so I don't end up with an eternal hard-on every time I get within fifty feet of him. OK, passing out now. Umf - Sasuke - don't you dare leave this bed." And true to his words, Naruto had barely finished speaking when he was snoring softly.

Sasuke had gone perfectly still. "What? Naruto. Oi!" He turned to face his friend, gently shaking him trying to wake him back up. "You can't just go to sleep after you say something like that." Still no sign of life. But then he saw the shadows under his friends eyes, and the bruises still healing all over his body, and remembered that his friend had looked completely exhausted before their evening together had even started. He must be beyond tired now. He sighed, laying back down and smiling slightly as Naruto's arms automatically encircled him again. And he let the contentment seep into his being, drifting off to sleep in the arms of his lover, wondering if Naruto would even remember what he had just told him in the morning. If he did, maybe Sasuke would finally answer the question that Naruto had asked him in that alley 10 years ago, of why he had been there in the first place.

. . . . . . .

It was early morning. Sasuke had woken up still nestled in Naruto's arms.

He looked over at the sleeping form of his blond, bronzed lover, tangled in twisted sheets on the king-sized bed in the hotel room. The man lay unmoving, seemingly dead to the world. Sasuke smirked. He had never felt better in his life, despite that his head hurt and his whole body ached from the previous night's exertions and excesses. He tried to name the emotion that he felt swirling through him, but his brain was still not back to being fully functional, passion and alcohol having basically shut that organ down for the past 12 hours. Though to be honest, processing emotions wasn't his strong suit under the best of circumstances.

Images from the prior night flashed through his head, slamming one after another. He felt his skin heating again just at the memories. He smirked again when he thought about what Naruto's reaction would be if he went and woke him.

An intense satisfaction and sense of accomplishment swirled through it all. He tried again to put into words in his own mind how he felt. About all he could come up with, until his brain started actually working again, was:

 _Finally! Fucking_ _**finally** _ _! Why did this have to take so long to happen? Why had we been such idiots and not gotten here sooner?_

_. . . . . . . ._

It was somewhat later that morning that Naruto vaguely heard the sound of a phone ringing. Barely able to move, he slapped his hand around on the nightstand until he located the source of the noise. He picked up the cell that Gaara had given him.

"Hey," his voice was raspy with sleep. He looked over, and saw that Sasuke was sitting in bed with him, awake and amused at Naruto's exhausted state. Naruto scowled when he saw that the man had evidently already gotten up, showered, and put his sweat pants back on.

"You sound like hell," Gaara said. "But you're alive, so I guess that means you found him. You both still in one piece?"

"Yeah. We're fine. I'm starving though... I think it's been almost 24 hours since I've eaten a real meal. Can hardly move. You find us a safehouse?"

"Yeah. It's all set up. Go to the hotel where Tsunade reconstructed your hand after that gang fight last year. We'll meet you by the alley-side entrance and take you to it."

"We can be there in 45 minutes. Can you bring food and clothes?"

"It's taken care of," Gaara said. There was a slight pause. "Speaking of taking care of things, what about Sai. Was he there?"

"He's out of commission. We don't have to worry about him chasing us."

There was a brief silence. "You didn't kill him." Gaara's voice was flat.

"Gaara... he was almost dead. He won't be able to follow us. This will be long over before there is anything to worry about."

"But you know what will happen. You've gotten him off Sasuke, but you know it is not over. Your 'favor' is not going to be returned."

"Gaara," Naruto lowered his voice futher, feeling the hard stare of Sasuke on his back. "We can talk about this later. I'm sorry. I can only be the person I am. I'll take what comes when it comes. My main goal is getting this situation taken care of for Sasuke. This won't interfere with that."

"Naruto-"

"Gaara. There's nothing more to talk about. It's done."

Naruto hung up the phone, staring at the nightstand. He could feel Sasuke waiting for an explanation.

"Problem?"

"Gaara has a place secured for us. With food. We have to meet him across town in 45 min, so we should get dressed and head out." Naruto sounded upset. Sasuke had gotten only half the conversation, but knew that something was definitely not good.

"Hey," he said, pulling Naruto to him, keeping his arms loosely around his friend. "I never got around to saying thanks last night."

Naruto smirked. "In a way you did, I guess."

Black eyes looked directly into blue. "What happened last night had nothing to do with gratitude."

Naruto could already feel himself responding to the proximity of his lover. "What was it about then?"

Sasuke leaned in, and kissed Naruto softly on his lips. "Just us," he murmured against the tan lips.

-xXx-

It was closer to an hour later when Naruto and Sasuke finally arrived at the designated meeting spot. Temari was waiting in a black car just by the entrance. She took in the rumpled appearance of the two, not failing to notice the hickies covering both their necks as they got in the car, and smirked.

"So, Naruto. Looks like your friend forgave you for being an ass after all."

Naruto flushed. Sasuke just shrugged. Temari burst out laughing, and handed a baseball cap and sunglasses to Sasuke, who looked at them as though they were covered with poison. Eventually he put them on. She tossed Naruto a clean hoodie, which he gratefully exchanged for the bloody one he had had to put back on that morning. He tried hard not to look at Sasuke as he changed in the car, feeling the man's gaze on his body. Having sex in the back seat of a car with Temari watching was not how he wanted to start the day. She already had enough ammunition on him anyway.

She drove them to an apartment building about 15 blocks away, and parked in a gated underground garage. They took the elevator to the 23rd floor, and followed Temari out to the apartment at the end of the hall, which she unlocked with a key. Inside, Gaara was sitting at the kitchen table. But he was not alone. Naruto felt Sasuke freeze as he saw the other man, eyes locked in desperation, the naked emotion on his face reflected in the similar face of the man at the table.

"Itachi," Sasuke's voice was raw . Itachi was up in an instant and closed the distance, embracing his brother fiercely.

"I missed you so much, Sasuke."

"How did he -" Naruto began.

"He showed up at the gym about twelve hours after he left you the note, figuring we would have made a plan for you to contact me. He took out the man Danzo had sent after him, and went to find Sasuke, but you had already gotten him out. We agreed that - given Danzo has already found him and knows about you as well - there is no risk anymore in us joining forces to finish this off." Gaara informed him.

Gaara, Naruto and Temari exchanged glances and silently walked into the living room, giving the brothers some privacy.

Sasuke was afraid to let go of Itachi, as though he might vanish. Itachi either understood or felt the same, because he continued to allow the embrace even though the brothers had never been very physically affectionate with each other.

Sasuke pulled back and looked at his brother's face. It was so similar to the one he remembered, but showed signs of aging as well, especially in his eyes, which held a hard darkness that had not been there before. Sasuke remembered the medical report of the man who had killed their parents. He knew instinctively, looking at his brother, that it had been him. He also knew that had the roles been reversed, he would have done exactly the same.

They walked back to the kitchen table and sat in silence for a few minutes, just looking at each other, noticing the small changes that time had wrought. "I followed everything you did since I've been gone," Itachi said, his usually smooth voice roughened by emotion. "I was so proud of the way you took over and just ran with everything. Not surprised, mind you. Every time I'd see an article about you, talking about how you'd managed to exceed some expectation or another, I'd just grin."

Sasuke flushed at the praise. But it didn't keep the anger away. "Well at least you had a way to know that I was alive and ok. You had a way to follow what was happening in my life. I had _nothing_. Everyone kept telling me that you were dead. I had no way of knowing differently, but I just... I just couldn't accept it. You could have found a way to send me some kind of note. I understand what you were doing. Naruto showed me the police report from the bomber's death." Itachi's brow rose at that.

"But, dammit Itachi! There must have been some way to-"

"I'm sorry, Sasuke." The words were filled with grief. "You have no idea how much I wanted to. And I thought of all kinds of ways. But I was also able to think of all kinds of ways that it could go wrong, or be discovered. And that would lead directly to one or both of us being killed, or at least targeted. I just... I couldn't risk you. You are all I have. I could risk anything but you."

Sasuke could do nothing but look at his brother, the emotions that Itachi normally kept so guarded now pouring out. The love and insecurity he had felt... and Sasuke felt his anger and hurt melt away. His brother was... human. And he loved him. And that was enough.

Itachi saw the changing expression on Sasuke's face, and felt a knot release inside him as well. He reached a hand out, and straightened his brother's collar on the rumpled shirt. "So... it looks like you and Naruto finally figured yourselves out. Took about five years longer than it should, but I'm glad."

Sasuke read honest happiness and acceptance in his brother's face, and knew he didn't need to ask if his brother was ok with him being gay. A worry he didn't even know he had evaporated before it had a chance to form. "Yeah... it's pretty great. But even we didn't figure it out until way after you left. How did you know?"

Itachi rolled his eyes and mumbled something about brain-dead teenagers. "You always used to talk about him when the two of you were in school together, especially after that first fight. And after he left, you used to be practically bouncing up and down at the mailbox when you'd get a letter from him, when generally you have the emotional responsiveness of a tree stump, so... it was always pretty clear."

"Hn," Sasuke tried to frown, but found somehow that his default expression kept morphing into a grin. Love was annoying.

Shouting from the other room caught both their attention.

. . . . .

"Where is the food? Seriously, I am half dead from hunger. I will eat absolutely anything. Even _vegetables_ ," Naruto stated emphatically.

Gaara raised a brow at that. Naruto had lived above his gym for almost 3 years, and he had never seen him eat a vegetable that wasn't inextricably combined with meat or noodle in some way.

Having expected this reaction, he quickly handed over a carton of ramen he had snagged from the kitchen as they had passed through to the family room and handed it to Naruto. Naruto didn't waste so much as a second tearing it open and devouring it. Gaara left him in peace for a few minutes, but Naruto could feel the weight of the man's gaze on him, and new his reprieve would be brief.

When most of the food was gone and Naruto could feel his blood sugar levels returning to normal, Gaara launched the first question. "Let me see the damage."

Naruto sighed and pulled his sweatshirt off. Gaara checked the gash on the ribs, and smirked at the other various markings all over Naruto's body. "I didn't know Sai was a biter."

"The fuck?" Naruto looked down to where Gaara's finger was resting on his shoulder. He vaguely remembered Sasuke biting him when he had... Naruto quickly shut off that line of thinking when he felt his body responding to the mental image.

"Looks like you and Sasuke were able to make good use of the hotel. About fucking time."

"What?"

"Oh, please. It's been obvious since I figured out what you were actually doing in Tokyo. But don't let it distract you until this is over. You cleared the immediate threat, but the main one is still there." Gaara's small smile turned into a glare. "And speaking of clearing the immediate threat, I want to know what happened with Sai. Why didn't you kill him? You obviously must have incapacitated him. What were you thinking?"

"Gaara, I told you. I can't kill a friend."

" _Can't kill a friend_. Naruto, you need to be a little more careful about who you decide is your friend if you are going to apply that rule. Generally, the sociopathic assassin who happens to work for they guy you are planning to take down would probably qualify as a FUCKING BAD CHOICE FOR A FRIEND."

Temari flinched. When Gaara was pissed off, she would rather be in another time zone. Or another solar system. And Gaara was looking extremely pissed right now. They were both shouting.

"Well, gee, Gaara. That's great fucking advice. Since when have either of us chosen friends based on what is convenient? It's not about that, and you know it."

"What I know is that someone I care about as an ACTUAL friend just basically committed fucking suicide last night, and I think I have a right to be a little bit pissed about it."

Of the three in the room, Temari was the only one who noticed the two figures enter the room from the kitchen, listening to the heated discussion taking place.

"Look, what was I supposed to do, huh? Tell me that. Let's say a 4-year-old who was wicked good with a knife tried to kill you. And you totally knew that this kid would just keep trying and trying until you were dead. Would you be able to kill him, Gaara? I don't think so."

Gaara took in a breath. He was trying to decide if he should control his temper, or just save Sai the trouble and kill Naruto himself right now. "Maybe. Maybe I wouldn't. But Sai is not four. He's three years older than you. And you are an idiot if you are thinking of him as the sad little orphan that he told you about."

"Fuck you, Gaara. You have no idea what it's like. Sai is like me. We both had the same shit luck as kids. Only he had it worse. You had a family. And I know it sucked. But you don't know what it is like to not have that, even if it is a shitty one. To not belong to something, not have something that defines you. You see the world around you, and you don't know where you fit into it. Normal kids freak out at teenagers, trying to make their way in the world and 'find themselves'. And generally do an ass poor job of it for the first few years. But try doing it when you are four or five. You don't have someone you can look at as an example of where you fit in the world and how you should respond to things. You have no context or judgment for choices you make. You just guess, or have the choice taken away entirely by someone else. I ended up with a pedophile. Sai ended up with Danzo. I had someone who helped me, who saw me for who I was and accepted me. Sai didn't. He was raised by a monster to be his weapon. But he never had a choice. Sai is a sociopath not because he is mentally deficient in any way. He is a sociopath because he was never given any social contexts or experiences to build on. Danzo marked him for his skills by the time he was seven. Once he was labeled Danzo's assassin, everyone was afraid of him. He had no friends. He had never even been asked to play basketball until I did. You should have seen his face, Gaara. He was twenty years old an it was like I was the first person who ever... I was just so..." Naruto broke off and put his head in his hands.

"I couldn't kill him. Say whatever you want. It doesn't matter at this point anyway."

Gaara looked at his friend. He was so angry. But at the same time, he knew this was just Naruto. It was, in a way, why he liked him so much in the first place.

"Just tell me what kind of shape you left him in, so at least we have a sense of how much time we have before we need to worry."

"Well, his knife was sticking out of his right lung the last time I saw him," Naruto said hollowly.

"Then maybe he didn't make it. He wouldn't have been able to call for help, and he couldn't have made it to a hospital -"

"I called an ambulance from his cell."

"You _what_?" Gaara's and Sasuke's voices echoed each other. Naruto jerked his head up, noticing for the first time Sasuke and Itachi standing in the doorway. Sasuke's face was white.

"Look. I'm starting to get a little pissed off here that everyone just assumes I am going to keel over dead as soon as Sai looks at me. I took him down once already. He is not some infallible angel of death. Can we please just move past this and focus on Danzo? There is a reasonable chance that if Danzo is dead, Sai will walk away from this whole thing and actually try to make a life for himself. He has been good enough at what he does that he is not even on the radar for the police. If Danzo goes, Sai could still come out the other side and move on." Naruto huffed. The last thing he wanted right now was to deal with this, especially not with Sasuke. They were both physically and emotionally exhausted. And the discussion was a pointless one anyway.

Naruto walked over to Itachi and held out his hand and smiled, sincerely if a little wanly. "I'm Naruto, by the way. We never really met properly. I'm really fucking glad you are not dead."

Itachi shook his hand, returning the smile. "Me, too. Glad to finally meet Sasuke's boyfriend. Seriously, it took you guys long enough."

Naruto froze, holding Itachi's hand, not sure at all what to do in this situation. He looked over at Sasuke, who was just rolling his eyes. Itachi smirked. "Yeah, the hickies all over both your necks were pretty obvious, so I figured why beat around the bush about it..."

Itachi cut off with a grunt as Sasuke punched him, but they were both smiling and Naruto couldn't help but grin. He could hear Temari snickering, and decided not to look at her right now.

"Look. I need to shower and go change into fresh clothes. Sasuke hasn't eaten yet and he's probably starving. Let's just get settled in and sort things out. Is there a clean phone we can call Shikamaru on? It would be good to get him here, since he has been thinking through what we have to work with and has probably solved the meaning of the universe by now."

But evidently Gaara was not quite done extracting his pound of flesh yet. Naruto walked toward the kitchen, and was on his way to the bathroom when he heard Gaara shout down the hall after him, "Have you told Sasuke about your kids yet?"

Followed almost immediately by a lethal sounding Sasuke, "His _what_?"

"Gaara! I'm going to fucking kill you!"

-xXx-

to be continued...


	8. Band of Brothers

-xXx-

"Look. I need to shower and go change into fresh clothes. Sasuke hasn't eaten yet and he's probably starving. Let's just get settled in and sort things out. Is there a clean phone we can call Shikamaru on? It would be good to get him here, since he has been thinking through what we have to work with and has probably solved the meaning of the universe by now."

But evidently Gaara was not quite done extracting his pound of flesh yet. Naruto walked toward the kitchen, and was on his way to the bathroom when he heard Gaara shout down the hall after him, "Have you told Sasuke about your kids yet?"

Followed almost immediately by a lethal sounding Sasuke, "His _what_?"

"Gaara! I'm going to fucking kill you!"

Sasuke walked into the bathroom, where Naruto, still shirtless, was digging into a bag of his clothes that Gaara had brought. He pulled out an orange tee shirt and a pair of cargo pants.

"Um... kids?"

"Yeah. Seventeen. With fourteen different mothers," Sasuke's face froze, and he was clearly trying to decide if Naruto was joking or not. Naruto rolled his eyes and continued. "And twelve different fathers, none of whom are me. Seriously, Sasuke, how big of a whore do you think I am?"

Sasuke just stood there, trying to make sense of this. Was Naruto joking? Was he a school teacher? What the fuck?

He had felt his heart clench when Gaara had said Naruto had children. This implied a mother, and a very long-term, permanent relationship for the sake of the children if nothing else. He had felt a mixture of jealousy about the relationship and hurt that Naruto hadn't even mentioned this to him. Not that there had been a lot of time for talking, but still. This wasn't just an 'oh, by the way' kind of thing.

Naruto sighed, and threw a pair of sweat pants and a black T-shirt to Sasuke. "I don't know if these will fit you, but it has to be better than wearing the same clothes three days in a row. We'll find a way to get some real clothes soon. Maybe Temari could be your personal shopper. She'd love to check your pant size."

Sasuke caught the clothes, still not knowing what kind of conversation they were having. Or needed to be having. "Shikamaru has a suitcase with my clothes ready for me. He told me to pack them and give them to him after our talk last time, in case something like this happened. He knew he wouldn't be able to just swing by my place and pick them up without it being too easy to trace him to me."

"Figures. He always thinks at least 10 moves ahead." Naruto glanced at the expression on Sasuke's face, and took a deep breath. "Look. I know things are really weird in terms of us. I have spent so much of the past 6 years thinking about you, and involved with this Danzo thing that relates to you, and then last night we... well last night was just unbelievable. And it feels like we know everything about each other on some level. But we don't. I mean... you know who I am, the core of me. And I know you. But there have been a million details and experiences that we have had separately over the years that we don't know about, and we haven't had time to just talk. Like normal people. And catch up on all the non-"holyshit we're gonna die" kind of topics. Like - I have no idea what music you like, or what books you've read, or what your favorite food is now - is it still tomatoes? - or any of that normal stuff. But at the same time, I know exactly where the spot on your neck is that makes you hard in like three seconds, and I know that you mourn your mother but not your father."

Sasuke just looked at him, "Ok, but seventeen kids is not a detail in the same way as what my favorite song is. You can't possibly be that clueless, right? Are you just jerking me around, or are you going to tell me what the hell Gaara was talking about."

"It just feels weird to just start randomly talking about shit like this out of the blue. But - ok - so these kids are my kids, but they're not my kids. It's no big deal," Naruto was looking embarrassed, and Sasuke became impatient. "There are some kids from the neighborhood, or nearby areas. The youngest is five, and the oldest is about twelve. In the evenings when I don't have a match, we train at the dojo and hang out. When one of them gets into trouble, I let them stay the night. Sometimes I help them out with stuff. It's not like I can adopt them, or anything. I mean, look at me. But they matter to me. And I matter to them. But... Gaara just said it that way trying to cause drama because HE'S BEING A FUCKING PRICK," Naruto had leaned his head around Sasuke, who was standing in the bathroom doorway, to shout down the hall at Gaara.

Sasuke looked down at Naruto's naked back and the slight scent of him as he had leaned past already stirring a physical response. He couldn't believe that in the middle of all this, he could actually be seriously thinking about sex. Naruto brushed Sasuke's side as he stood back up, and Sasuke suddenly wished that they were alone in the apartment. His fingers twitched to slide along Naruto's skin.

Naruto stood facing Sasuke. Their eyes locked on each other, and the voices down the hall seemed to fade to nothing. Slowly Sasuke's hand reached up and brushed along his friend's cheek bone. He let out a shaky breath. Sasuke leaned back on the door, pushing it closed. They just looked at each other for a minute, feeling the tension between them ratchet up. Naruto closed the distance, bracing his hands on either side of Sasuke's head against the door.

"Do you think..." Naruto asked, his voice sounding somehow both husky and bewildered at the same time. "... do you think it will ever be normal between us?"

Sasuke tried to will his brain to focus on Naruto's words, when all he could do was feel the rush of heat spread through his body at his friend's proximity.

"After everything last night, I thought I could... I mean... it's not just lust for me, what I want from you. There are so many things I want to talk to you about. Little and big. And there are people waiting for us right outside this door that we really need to talk to," Naruto bit his lower lip and swallowed convulsively, the muscles in his arms and neck cording with the effort to restrain himself. "But I am fighting with every ounce of will right now, to not just lunge at you and swallow you whole. I don't..." he closed his eyes and drew a shuddering breath. "... I don't know how to handle what I feel for you Sasuke. What the hell _is_ this?"

Beneath the desire that made the blue eyes slightly glazed, Sasuke could sense that Naruto was... afraid. He recognized it instantly, because it echoed his own emotions, how the pure simple love of friendship that he had felt for Naruto when he was young had somehow been transformed into something darker and more obsessive.

A pounding on the door snapped them apart.

"Call Shikamaru first, have sex later. We need to get things moving," Gaara said flatly.

Naruto drew a shuddering breath, and opened the door, shoving Sasuke out. "I have to shower and change my clothes. Then I will call Shikamaru," Naruto slammed the door closed, but Sasuke was able to catch what Naruto mumbled at the end. "Right after I take a fucking cold shower and get some blood back into my brain."

. . . . .

When Sasuke had changed into fresh clothes and Naruto had finally emerged blue and shivering from the shower (which Temari, Itachi, and Gaara exchanged amused smirks over), they sat down at the kitchen table over some coffee.

"So... do you really have kids?" Itachi had asked. Naruto glared at Gaara, but sketched out basically the same thing he had told Sasuke, laying it out like some random kids just happened to show up every once in a while at the gym for a chat. Gaara rolled his eyes.

"Right, Naruto. That's exactly the way it is. Although Tsunade _did_ spend almost 12 straight hours reattaching the tendons and ligaments in your left hand when you took on the gang that was trying to jump Konohamaru and his two friends when you heard what was happening to them. And you have spent all of your prize money on either feeding those kids or helping their families make rent, so literally all you have to your name is the clothes in that fucking duffle bag and the crap in your pack. And half the kids there either call you nii-san or tousan*."

Naruto looked flatly at Gaara. "And exactly what does this have to do with anything?"

"Well, I figure Sasuke should know that he's likely to find his mansion turned into an orphanage at some point if he's going to keep you around," Gaara said. Itachi and Sasuke exchanged amused glances at that thought. "And I wanted to remind you, Naruto, that there are people in this world that need you. You might not be the head of a multi-billion dollar enterprise. But you still matter to people. And you need to respect that."

There was a strong underlying message that Gaara was driving at. Naruto knew what it was, and it pissed him off. And he did not want to talk about it here. "I make my choices, Gaara, the same as you or anyone else. I need you to back off this now."

The room was filled with a tension that only Gaara and Naruto seemed to really understand. Though Temari was suspiciously staring at the floor, as though hoping an escape hatch would magically open up and let her the fuck out of there.

Naruto and Gaara were locked in an intense exchange of glares. Finally, something like sadness flashed across Gaara's face, and he let his gaze drop.

"Hurry up and call Shikamaru. I have to get back and babysit your kids. Or did you forget that Konohamaru has been sleeping there most nights since his grandfather died?"

"Gaara -"

"Don't ask me to not be mad. You know where I stand. You can disregard it, or not."

Naruto looked helplessly at his friend, at a loss for what to say. "Thanks. For checking in on him. I'll send one of my T-shirts back in case he doesn't have pajamas with him." Both he and Gaara knew the boy would want some sort of proof that Naruto was still ok, still around. The T-shirt would have to suffice.

Sasuke digested what Gaara had said, at least the part that had been less cryptic. It actually didn't surprise him at all that Naruto was trying to make a safe haven for these kids, given Naruto's past. It was exactly something Naruto would do... trying to find a family for himself, trying to protect kids that were like him. Maybe even trying to erase some of the fear he had lived with as a child by showing he could now control or at least influence the same forces that had thrown him to the wind when he was young. "I'm glad," Sasuke said softly. "I'm glad that you have been able to find a purpose beyond just hunting Danzo. It makes me feel... less guilty about dragging you into all this."

"Sasuke," Naruto looked at him steadily. "Getting involved was completely my choice. You never asked. And it's not like I had a lot of significantly better options waiting for me behind door number two. So don't feel guilty about any of this shit."

The conversation lightened, and they shifted to talk about less controversial things. Naruto took the clean phone Gaara handed him and dialed Shikamaru.

"Hey, Shikamaru. Have you solved the grand unified theory of everything yet?"

_"Naruto. I take it things are in motion?"_

"Yeah. Sasuke had some cover story planned to keep it out of the press, so that's why you didn't hear about it."

_" I am the one who told him to do that in the event that something happened... I figured there's no point worrying investors."_

"Right," Naruto flicked a glance at the group around him, Sasuke was eating, and Gaara, Itachi, and Temari seemed to be discussing something about the security of government information sites. Naruto casually walked out of the room, and headed to one of the bedrooms. "And you should know we have another player in the mix here now. The one I sketched that day."

He heard Shikamaru draw in a quick breath.

" _That is the best news I've heard in a long time."_

"Great, so we'll send someone to pick you up tomorrow morning, around 9am?"

_"Ok, I'll be ready."_

When Naruto had reached the bedroom and softly pulled the door closed, he dropped his voice. "Hey. So you've been working on a plan, right?"

_"Obviously."_

"Look... you play chess. You know that some pieces are more important than others for winning the game. And I want you to know, that I am ok with that. Just make the best plan that protects the pieces that matter. Ok?"

_"You have no faith in my abilities to plan, do you?"_

"No, I do. That's why I went to you in the first place. But I just... want to be sure you are optimizing around the right things. And we don't need to make a big deal of highlighting that when you're here tomorrow, as long as you and I know what is important here. OK?"

_"Naruto -"_

"Look, I have to run, but just keep in mind what I told you. Some pieces can't get taken, ok?"

 _"See you tomorrow._ "

"Later," Naruto felt a presence at his back, and turned around, startled. Itachi stood there, the door closed behind him. _How the fuck did he get in here and why didn't I even hear him? How long has he been there?_

They two men looked at each other in silence for a minute. "You know, Sasuke will totally kill you if he knows you are putting his safety above yours," Itachi said, his voice holding no inflection. "This was what Gaara was so pissed about tonight, wasn't it? He knew you were going to do this."

"Sasuke doesn't need to know. Shikamaru is a fucking genius. It will probably work out fine. But just in case... you know I'm right."

"Do I?"

"You made the same choice. And I'll bet if you had to, you'd do the same thing again."

Itachi just looked at Naruto, then a small smile ghosted across his lips. "I guess we have at least two things in common, then."

Naruto raised a brow.

"We both love Sasuke more than ourselves. And we both are going to suffer his wrath for it."

-xXx-

Gaara pulled Naruto aside before he left. "We won't be back here until we come with Shikamaru. So anyone who comes through that door before 11:30 tomorrow morning is not a friend. That door opens, and you take them down permanently. No fucking around, Naruto."

"I know. I won't play," Naruto said. And he meant it. With Sai it had been just luck that he hadn't had to kill him. They were getting the hell out of there anyway, so there was no danger really in letting Sai report that Sasuke was gone. It would be different with someone finding them here. They couldn't be left to deliver any message. Naruto glanced over and saw Itachi watching them. He nodded slightly, clearly hearing and agreeing with the exchange.

Eventually Gaara and Temari had left. Itachi said he would be going to bed, making a big point that he had the iPod that Gaara had loaned him, and would be listening to music quite loudly all night long.

Naruto blushed, and stalked to the kitchen, grumbling about everyone in his business all of a sudden. Sasuke just rolled his eyes and headed to take a shower.

Naruto ate a second dinner, then went and lay down in the bed. His mind was racing on what options Shikamaru would have mapped out for them and what could happen over the next few days. There would be no safe path. The question was going to be the sequence. Do they take out Danzo or Madara first? And if Madara needed to go down first, how do they do that when they don't know how to find him?

But he knew better than to underestimate Shikamaru. He had complete confidence that if a way existed to bring them down, Shikamaru would have figured it out. And he had sounded very confidant on the phone. Naruto would just bank on that. He looked up from his thoughts when he heard the door open. Sasuke was back from his shower, wearing one of Naruto's T-shirts and a clean pair of sweat pants. He couldn't explain the funny feeling in his stomach at seeing Sasuke in his clothing. Why was it he always had this instant reaction when he was close to Sasuke? Already his hands were sweating and he could feel his groin stirring. But what he felt went far beyond simple lust, or even typical love, and was somehow an amalgam of the light sweetness of friendship and the darker swirl of obsession. And he knew that this was dangerous. This feel of possessiveness, and utter focus on someone else. In a way, he knew it had always been there. Even when they were young, he had always been acutely aware of the dark-haired-boy's movements and actions. Even before they had ever spoken, he had watched him. Admired him. Longed for him, in a simple, childlike way. And then they had grown, and his thoughts had matured. And the longing had deepened, and darkened, and become a part of his being. But it had still been manageable, controllable, until last night.

Now that he had slept with Sasuke, it was like that part of him had simply taken over. He couldn't imagine being with anyone else now. So what would he do when this was over? When Danzo and Madara were dead and Sasuke was safe? He didn't pretend that they would be together forever. What would someone like Sasuke need with someone like him? They would be friends. He knew that Sasuke wasn't using him, that he had real affection and feelings for him at some level. But they weren't what Naruto felt. Couldn't be. This insanity. This intensity.

Sasuke walked over to him, blue eyes locked on black. Some of what Naruto was thinking must have shown on his face, because a flush was slowly staining across Sasuke's cheekbones, and his eyes had already darkened with arousal. Naruto reached up to him and pulled him down in the bed next to him.

Naruto softly brushed his lips across Sasuke's. Then again. Before pressing in more fully and sliding his tongue into Sasuske's mouth.

The state of emotional upheaval in Sasuke's life right now had almost incapacitated his brain. In the past 24 hours, he had been nearly assassinated, consummated a sexual relationship with the person he pretty much believed was his soul mate, and been reunited with his miraculously resurrected brother. This would be a bit of an overload for even an emotionally in-touch person to process, but Sasuke's brain had long since simply shifted into 'passive observer' mode and was letting everything wash through with no processing at all.

But sex was something that didn't require mental effort, only physical response. He might not be able to ask Naruto all the things he wanted to, he definitely could not say all the things he needed to, but he could respond at least to this part openly and without reservation.

Their bodies were still fatigued from the previous night, but rather than dulling the desire, they found themselves sensitized to the smell and heat and slightest touches from each other. Naruto drew back to look at Sasuke, his gaze running over the beautiful face and flawless form of his lover. "Sometimes I look at you... and I think you can't be real," he whispered. Sasuke fisted his hand in Naruto's hair and drew him back down slowly. They kissed almost reverently, savoring the taste and texture of each other's mouths. Naruto slid his hands under Sasuke's shirt, slowly lifting the hem up, following its slow path with his tongue and lips, tracing his way up Sasuke's abdomen, over his chest, up to his throat as he removed the shirt and tossed it on the floor. He then settled his hands to the waist of the sweatpants that Sasuke was wearing, burying his face for a moment in Sasuke's stomach, nuzzling and mumbling words of appreciation.

Sasuke got impatient, and pulled Naruto's shirt off in one smooth movement, then rolled him beneath him and began sucking on his neck, running his hands down Naruto's sides, being careful to avoid the cut there. He felt Naruto shiver, and didn't quite manage to suppress a soft laugh. God he had wanted this. All day, it had been skirting around the edges of Sasuke's thoughts. No matter what he had tried to focus on. He wanted this. And he could feel how much Naruto wanted it too. Thank god it wasn't just him feeling this desperation.

He kissed Naruto with a bruising force, pressing him into the mattress and feeling their erections slide against each other with a scalding friction. Naruto's arms closed around his waist, then his hands slid down Sasuke's back to his ass, pulling him closer and increasing the pressure. They both groaned at the pleasure of it. Sasuke was kissing his neck again, leaving a trail of hickies down Naruto's chest to the center of his tattoo. Naruto was shaking and sweating with desire when Sasuke slowly began to trace the pattern of the black swirl with his tongue. "Have I told you how insane this tattoo makes me?" he whispered against Naruto's flesh.

"Fucking god, Sasuke. I swear, I am going to cum right now if you don't stop." Sasuke's soft laughter was his only response as he slowly unzipped Naruto's pants and pulled them off.

"Do you not even _own_ underwear?" he asked. Naruto's could only make some strangled response and Sasuke's fist had closed around his erection and was sliding up and down Naruto's already over-stimulated shaft. Smirking, Sasuke swirled his tongue over the head, tasting the saltiness of the drips already forming, and pulled it into his mouth. He sucked slowly at first, the built up suction and tempo while Naruto slowly lost his mind arching into the bed with his head thrown back.

"Sa-suke, I'm gonna -" Sasuke hummed slightly, pulling Naruto down as deep as he could. " _Ungh_ , god!" Naruto came, his whole body locking up as Sasuke continued his ministrations until every last tremor was done. He quickly pulled off his own pants, tossing them aside along with Naruto's. Naruto's pack was on the nightstand, and he stretched over and pulled out the oil while Naruto tried to reconnect his consciousness with his body.

Sasuke's hands were shaking with urgency as he flipped open the cap and poured oil onto his hands. Naruto palmed his hands over Sasuke's, making them both slick with oil, then curling his fingers over Sasuke's erection, feeling the oil dribble between his fingers.

"Naruto, I can't wait. Let me," Sasuke slid a slickened finger into Naruto. Naruto was still a bit sore from the prior night, but Sasuke had already learned where to focus his efforts and soon all discomfort was drown out by the intense pleasure of Sasuke stroking the right spot. Sasuke inserted a second finger, then a third. He knew he was rushing it a bit, but he could barely hold on as it was.

"Sasuke, stop playing around," Naruto said huskily. Sasuke swore, and quickly positioned himself between Naruto's legs and slowly entered him.

" _God_ , Naruto," he groaned, amazed his words actually came out fully formed. "You are so fucking tight. I can't -"

"If you hold back, I swear I'll rip your arms off," Naruto whispered into Sasuke's ear.

Sasuke wasn't sure exactly what sound he made when Naruto said that, but whatever it was had Naruto grinning. But only briefly, as Sasuke took him at his word and proceeded to fuck him into the mattress with an intensity that was above super-nova.

They climaxed together, and collapsed, panting. It took a few minutes for Naruto to remember he had hands. When he did, he began to slowly stroke Sasuke's back. They lay together in the darkness, listening to each other's heartbeats, neither wanting to break the moment.

As Naruto drifted off to sleep, there was one thought that focused itself in his mind. He was going to make absolutely certain that Sasuke was still whole and alive at the end of this. Nothing else mattered.

. . . . . . . . .

Sasuke was on his way back from the shower when Itachi opened the door to his room.

"For future reference, I don't think the volume on an iPod goes up loud enough to drown you guys out. If we all end up living together when this is over, you need to soundproof the walls of your bedroom."

Sasuke just blinked at him, not really sure what to say. Itachi turned and went back into his room. Sasuke swore he could hear the sounds of Itachi laughing. Was that even possible?

-xXx-

Temari and Gaara arrived at noon the next day with Shikamaru. It was hard to say which Sasuke was more excited about. The fact that the 'man with the plan' had arrived, or the fact that he came bearing some of Sasuke's own clothes. With no sweatpants or cargo pants in sight.

On his part, Shikamaru was glad to see both Sasuke and Naruto unharmed, and was intensely glad to see Itachi. The two men gripped arms, and Naruto guessed that Shikamaru had some of the same hero worship for Itachi that Sasuke did.

But they decided it was time to get down to business. To bring Itachi up to speed on what Naruto had laid out, Shikamaru quickly went through the file and laid out the basics of the players and what was known about the sequence of events up to this point and the players involved. Naruto couldn't help but note that it took Shikamaru about a third the time it had taken him to explain it the first time, and seemed to be a hell of a lot more coherent. He grinned at Shikamaru. It was awesome to have friends with talents.

Itachi was a bit taken aback at the level of detail that Naruto had been able to gather without raising anyone's suspicions.

"It helps to be an idiot... no one suspects you," Sasuke offered helpfully. Naruto narrowed his eyes at him.

"Ok, so now that the landscape has been established, we have to set down what to do about it," Shikamaru continued.

"There are three separate phases that need to be carried out to have this work. We'll talk sequencing and timing of these in a minute, but first we need to walk through the scenarios and contingencies for each one," Shikamaru looked around the table; no one was fooled by the lazy expression on his face. This guy was a fucking badass. "The first is taking out Madara, the second is taking out Danzo, and the third is avoiding jail."

"Taking out Madara needs to be done with finesse. He is not viewed as a criminal. The police will want to put someone in jail if he gets murdered. He is a wealthy businessman from a powerful family. We also need to deal with the issue that no one seems to know where he is," with this, Shikamaru slanted a questioning look at Itachi, who shook his head.

"I didn't even know he was back in the country. Rumor had it that the reason Danzo had killed my family was personal," Itachi stated. Sasuke felt a strange feeling pass through him, that somehow Naruto was able to find something out that Itachi didn't know. Like somehow the universe was slightly out of balance.

"Temari helped me with that one. She was able to sift through all the legal records to figure it out. Then she hacked into the department of state to find out passport and visa information on Madara."

Shikamaru looked consideringly at Temari. Who blushed.

"So," Shikamaru continued, "For Madara, we need to draw him out, and kill him without it looking like it was a murder. Let's start with the first barrier. What would draw him out?"

"Sasuke's and my dead bodies," Itachi said coolly.

"Exactly. So you and Sasuke are going to die in a fiery explosion. Again. And then when Madara shows up to claim his place as head of the family business, you can flip a coin to decide who takes him out."

There was a moment of silence. Finally Itachi said, "I am assuming that your plan has more details than that."

Shikamaru smiled slightly. "Of course. Let's talk details - and the pros, cons, and contingencies of each option." And he proceeded to lay out a plan that - if there had been any doubts before - proved that you don't EVER want to go against a Nara in a game of wits.

Itachi and Sasuke were already discussing how to set this in motion when Shikamaru continued.

"So that takes care of the first phase. The second is much more straight-forward, except for the timing. Danzo is a known criminal. There will be minimal investigation into his death. The risk here is not so much jail as it is just making it out alive. There is a small chance that killing Madara would stop him, given that his primary reason for going after Sasuke would be eliminated."

Naruto stirred. "No. He would lose too much face at this point. There are rumors already that he is going for Sasuke, but not as clear on the rationale. Removing Madara would eliminate the primary driver for this, but Danzo would still have to follow through or people will view it as weakness. He can't afford to be viewed as weak."

"Agreed. There is no way to take Danzo out first, because Madara will become suspicious and might go further underground for a while until he finds a new partner to help. But as soon as we take out Madara, Danzo will know that we are onto him. And he will become almost impossible to reach."

"So we have to hit them at the same time," Itachi stated calmly.

"Right. And we already know that Sasuke and Itachi will need to be directly involved with getting Madara. So that leaves Danzo to you," Shikamaru looked at Naruto. There was a message exchanged there that both Gaara and Itachi caught, and didn't like. Sasuke frowned, knowing that he had missed something important in the sub-text.

"I figured that. And I already told you that I can reach him. He trusts me, even though he is holed up in his fortress right now."

"Are you sure? You let Sai go," Gaara reminded him. "By now, either he has found Danzo, or Danzo has found him. He disappeared from the emergency room before he was fully admitted to the hospital. They never got an ID on him, and no one saw him leave. All the video feeds were erased. Someone from Danzo's organization was there besides Sai."

"Danzo will see me," Naruto said, calmly.

"He will see you because he will want to interrogate you before he kills you. You might be able to walk in, but you won't walk out, Naruto," Shikamaru glared at him. "Seriously, you really don't have any faith in my ability to plan things, do you?"

"OK, so what do you suggest then? I am definitely open to other options."

"There are three options. But before we talk through which is the most viable, I have a question for Itachi."

The man in question simply raised an eyebrow.

"How high up are you in Nagato's organization at this point?"

A second eyebrow joined the first, and then he slowly smiled. "I had forgotten, Shikamaru, how absolutely fierce your intellect is. And your assumption is correct, of course. Nagato is dying. He has about two months left. And he has asked me to take over his organization. Everyone has agreed."

Sasuke looked at his brother in shock. "But... I thought... you would come back and-"

"And run the family business with you? Sasuke," Itachi sighed slightly. "It is too late now. You already know that I have killed several people. Not all of them in self defense. If I tried to assume a role as a public figure at this point, someone would start digging into it. Naruto was able to figure it out. Others could, too. And Nagato's organization is not as ruthless as many other of the Yakuza. He has morals. There are lines that he doesn't cross, and I have found that I can live with that same code. That is why it is absolutely imperative that you stay clean of the worst of it. You need to be beyond reproach so that you can maintain your influence and keep us all out of jail."

Sasuke understood, but he didn't like it. He especially didn't like the pace at which all of this was happening, with no time for him to process or influence the trajectory of things.

"So that brings us to the three options for taking Danzo down. The first is utter destruction," Shikamaru pulled out one of Naruto's sketches and laid it out. "Itachi - would he follow your orders to do this?" Itachi looked at the sketch.

"It is usually more of an issue trying to get Deidara NOT to blow things up. If we have a blueprint of the compound, Dei could get this done."

Shikamaru pulled out the set of sketches of the compound that Naruto had done. Itachi again looked at Naruto with respect.

"There are over thirty people living in that compound. Not all of them deserve to get blown to shit," Naruto said, his eyes narrowing dangerously at Shikamaru.

"Ok, so let's explore option 2. Naruto, what do you want to do with your life when this is all over?" Naruto blinked at the question, clearly not understanding how they could be connected. Itachi was quicker on the uptake.

"You clearly have the trust of Danzo's men. More than he does, if I understand how he runs his operation. If there are two or three that you trust who are high enough up, you could simply walk in and stage a coup. You'd have to take Danzo out, but I think Shikamaru probably already has some ideas around that." Itachi seemed perfectly serious. Naruto could not for the life of him imagine himself as a heavy Yakuza crime boss. He said as much.

Gaara agreed. "My father was a Yakuza boss. Naruto would be killed within a year. He isn't ruthless enough to keep his lieutenants from overthrowing him. It would be a death sentence for him."

Sasuke felt panic and anger rising in him. Why was this even on the table? Naruto was going to come and live with him. They were finally going to be together. What kind of bullshit were these guys even considering?

Before he could even voice that, Shikamaru was continuing. "Ok, so that leaves us option three. It was my final option because it is the most dangerous. Naruto, for this to work, you will either have to go alone or bring at most one person with you."

Sasuke opened his mouth to speak, but Naruto cut him off. "I'm going alone. If you think it is possible for one person to do this, why put another person at risk?"

"You haven't even heard the plan yet, you dumbass," Sasuke said, his temper snapping. Both Naruto and Itachi seemed like they were slipping away from him again. To this fucking underworld that never let you go. He could not let that happen. Not when he finally had them both back in his life. "Look, if two people can do this, and it is risky, then let me go with him. We'll do it together. Once Madara thinks Itachi and I are dead, it's not like he will magically be able to appear in that instant to claim the family assets. It will take at least a day, maybe more. And that would give me enough time to go with Naruto on whatever plan we're working with here."

"No, Sasuke," Naruto said flatly, raising his hand when Sasuke opened his mouth again. "Just to be perfectly clear, of everyone in this room you would be absolutely the last person I would take with me. You would be recognized on sight, you have not been trained in the type of fighting that is likely going to come into play, and you are the lynchpin in getting us all out of this in the end. You are absolutely not coming with me. We are NOT going to argue about it."

"Fuck you, Naruto. You can't make all the decis-"

"He's right," Itachi said, giving Naruto an unreadable look. "Sasuke, this is not the part of the plan that you should be involved with. You have other roles to play."

"Right, while Naruto goes off and gets himself killed? Because you all think I am too white collar to be useful? Fuck you guys," Sasuke slammed his chair back and stalked out of the room.

They sat in silence for a bit, Naruto in particular looking bleak. He had seen the fear and anguish on Sasuke's face before he had covered it with anger. But he knew he was making the right choice. The only choice he could live with. He sighed. "So what's the plan, Shika?"

When Shikamaru had finished explaining, Naruto was a little pale, but he nodded. "It's a good plan. Not a lot of room for error, but a good plan."

Gaara looked at him. "I'm coming with you. You need two people."

"No, Gaara. There is no way I am letting anyone else come with me. This doesn't even involve you, and if something happened to you I would never forgive myself-"

Before Naruto had finished, before he could even blink, Gaara had stood up, his chair tipping over, and he had literally plucked Naruto out of his chair and was slamming him up against the wall over his head with his hand around Naruto's throat. Everyone looked in complete shock as the smaller, red-haired man seemed to effortlessly overpower the larger blond.

In a deceptively quiet voice, Gaara sais simply, "We're not optimizing around your ability to emerge out of this guilt-free. We are optimizing to have everyone make it out alive. And I will fucking break both of your legs right now, if you don't agree that I am going with you. Incidentally, your odds of success are quite low with two broken legs."

He finally released Naruto when no further objections were forthcoming. Naruto looked at the shocked faces of Itachi and Shikamaru and just shrugged. "I told you he could kick my ass. This is why he is banned even from the underground fighting. The guy is fucking _insane_."

Shikamaru looked thoughtful. "Actually, Gaara, if you are going with Naruto, I think we can modify the plan a bit." He explained. And both Gaara and Itachi grinned.

-xXx-

to be continued... **if you enjoyed this, please comment!** Just so you have a sense for where we are in the story, there are 2 chapters left. So we are closing in on the end! Also, just to be clear _Thin Line_ is NOT a sequel to this story... it is totally separate. The only relation between the two is that it also involves Naruto and Sasuke having sex. They're just a lot angrier about it in that one.

* umm, probably you all know this, but Tousan is dad.


	9. Time for Action

-xXx-

It was time to set the plan in motion. Now that everyone was aligned on exactly what needed to be done, no one wanted to wait. Plus, even with the precautions that Gaara had taken in setting up their location, their safety was temporary and everyone knew it. Danzo was ready to make his move, and he definitely had more resources than patience. He was out hunting for them, and it was only a matter of time before he found them.

Naruto went to the bedroom, hoping Sasuke had cooled off by then. The door was closed. Naruto knocked, then opened it and went in. Sasuke was standing at the far end of the room, looking out the window.

"You ok?" He knew Sasuke wasn't ok, but honestly didn't know what to say.

Sasuke just turned around and looked at him. "Why is it that everyone gets more say in what is going to happen than I do?"

"Sasuke... I'm not going to try to tell you who to intimidate and who to bribe, or what to say to the reporters when it comes to phase three. Because I don't know shit about that part of society. You live and breathe that, and you own that. The part that I know, and the part that Itachi knows, is the other side of this. Shikamaru's plan is just drawing on all of our strengths. None of us could do this alone."

"But you're going alone," Sasuke's voice was flat.

"No. Actually, Gaara kind of insisted in coming with me after you left," Naruto flinched at the expression on Sasuke's face as soon as he had said the words.

"Oh, I see. So I'm too incompetent to help you, but Gaara is just perfect. You trust someone that you met just a few years ago to have your back, but you don't trust me? Fuck you, Naruto."

"Look, Sasuke, it's not like that. This isn't about trust. Like I said, it's just -"

But Sasuke was already pushing past him. "Whatever. You just do whatever the fuck you want."

Naruto thought about trying to stop him, but he didn't. After all, wasn't this is a way what he wanted? If Sasuke was pissed at him, he was less likely to force the issue and try to come after Danzo with him and get killed. Once Naruto and Gaara left this apartment, there would be no direct communications between the groups until it was over. They had worked out a timing, and a set of contingencies to keep things coordinated by other means without any direct links that could give them away. If Naruto really wanted to be sure that Sasuke couldn't get involved with phase two, then all he had to do was walk out the door to the apartment with Gaara. After that, they couldn't make contact with each other even if they wanted to.

Naruto quickly stuffed his clothes in his bag, zipping it up. They had finished lunch, and it was time to go. He caught Itachi's eye, and the two walked into Itachi's room and closed the door. Sasuke was pretending they didn't exist, and didn't even look up as they left the room.

"He's really pissed at you," Itachi said.

"Yeah, I told him Gaara was going with me."

"He thinks it's because you don't trust him. Are you going to tell him why you are doing all this before you go?"

Naruto looked at Itachi, feeling uncomfortable at the older man's uncanny ability to see right through him. "No. That would likely be - counterproductive. We'll have time to talk when this is over."

Itachi just raised one eyebrow. Naruto continued. "But... if things don't go according to plan, just tell him for me, though. Ok?"

"Just make sure things _do_ go according to plan. That's not a conversation I want to have with my brother."

Naruto sighed, then grinned, trying to shrug off his uncharacteristic worry. "Yeah, I will. It will be a cake walk."

Itachi didn't return the smile, knowing it was fake. Instead, he just turned and walked out of the room. Naruto scrubbed his hands through his hair, then walked out to the kitchen where everyone was gathered.

Gaara and Naruto exchanged words briefly with Shikamaru and Temari, who would be their emergency contacts in case things went wrong. The two had seemed surprisingly content to be working together, given that they had just met yesterday. Naruto watched Temari out of the corner of his eye as Shikamaru quickly ran down the final precautions in a bored tone. Naruto had a fight scheduled in a week, and they had agreed that - if they didn't meet up before then - that would be when they made contact. It would be a big crowd, so it should be easy enough to blend in in case things weren't fully wrapped up. But if all went as planned, it should be over by then.

He hugged Temari goodbye and whispered, "Make sure Gaara doesn't kill Shikamaru after you two hook up... I like him." And was gratified when she blushed and made a strangled sound as she kicked him soundly in the shin.

Naruto's grin faded as he walked over to Sasuke and was met with a glare. He ignored it and pulled his friend's forehead down to rest against his. Sasuke didn't resist. "Be safe," Naruto said gruffly.

His emotions and nerves were so high right now he didn't even know what else to say. He wanted to kiss him, but that was probably a bad idea given everything. There was so much left unsaid, and there wasn't time to talk about it all now. He didn't know what Sasuke would want with him when this was all over, but he would make sure they had the chance to figure out where each other stood once this was over. He tried to ignore the way his stomach clenched at the very real possibility that Sasuke's sexual response had been more generated by the 'fight or flight' adrenaline rush they had all be living on for the past 2 days rather than actual emotions. But right now, everyone just needed to focus on the task at hand. He let his hand fall away from Sasuke's head and turned.

"Gaara - ready to head out?"

The red-head simply nodded. They left without a backward glance.

Sasuke watched them go. He had heard Naruto's soft whisper of 'be safe' before he had turned around and walked back to Gaara. And he had wanted nothing more than to reach out to him and grab him, and force him to change the plan. Or at least say something to make the last exchange he had with him not be angry. But no words materialized that he was able to say. He watched helplessly as his best friend walked out the door. And he hoped desperately that this was not going to be the last time he saw him.

"You're mad at Naruto," Itachi stated, watching his reaction.

Sasuke shrugged, his worry and frustration showing more than he would have liked. "He said he wouldn't let me help him with Danzo, because it would be too risky. Then he has _Gaara_ join, when Gaara is not even involved in this."

"Gaara is involved. And he has something to gain from this as well. You left the room before we got to that part."

"Look, Itachi. It's more than that. I have every right to be there when Danzo is taken down. Naruto had no business telling me what I could do or what I am capable of, like he's my father or something -"

"No, he's not your father," Itachi cut him off. "He's the man who is so in love with you that at fifteen he threw away any chance he had to actually build a life for himself and finish school and have a regular job that would provide safety and stability. He lived on the streets, regularly running the risk of being raped, beaten, or killed, so he'd be close enough to the dangerous people he wanted to protect you from that he could take them down from the inside while keeping you safely out of it. You know he wasn't killed, but you have no idea if any of those other things happened to him. Or how often. He then took on a dangerous assassin that everyone, even Naruto, thought he could not defeat. Mortally injuring a friend to protect you. Next, he then asked Shikamaru to come up with a plan that fully optimized your safety, at the expense of his own, likening it to chess where some pieces matter and some don't. He then had the absolute audacity to prevent you from participating in a fight that he knew you had not been trained to win at. And you think all of this is because he somehow thinks he is better than you, or that he trusts Gaara more? You _complete moron_. If you are going to be mad at Naruto, at least be mad for the right reason."

"Shit," Sasuke slid down the wall and sat on the floor as Itachi's words sunk in. He felt a little sick. Pride has always been his greatest weakness. He rested his head in his hands.

Itachi glared at him for a minute or two, then relented.

"Luckily he probably is stupid enough to let that slide in your case, since it managed to keep you from insisting on going with him. You can kiss and make up later, little brother. Right now we have business to attend to. We need to get ready."

Sasuke took a deep breath, pulling himself together. Itachi was right. This was not the time. But when this was over, he and Naruto were going to have a very long talk. And then spend the next several weeks in bed not talking at all.

. . . .

Sasuke and Itachi looked at each other. There was absolutely no doubt that they were brothers. The Armani suits, the aura of power and control, the impassive, intelligent eyes set in faces that even an artist would have difficulty improving on. Given the series of meetings today, they both knew that appearance and confidence would be critical. Looking at his brother, Sasuke felt a rush of pride. They were untouchable.

Itachi smirked at him, motioning to Sasuke to come closer. "You have no idea how much I am looking forward to taking down Madara with you. You have grown into your own man, little brother. They don't have a chance in hell against us," as soon as Sasuke was within arms length, Itachi reached out and poked two fingers to his brother's forehead. "Let's have some fun. We've waited too long." Despite how much that exact gesture had pissed Sasuke off as a child, he felt his throat close up as the memories and love he had always held for his big brother surged inside him. It was really happening. He had his brother back in his life. And they were going to take down the person responsible for separating them.

Slowly an answering smirk formed on Sasuke's face. _Hell, yeah._ As a child he had idolized Itachi. Desperate to follow in his footsteps as much as possible. But now that their paths had diverged, he was no longer following. He was partnering. As an equal. And he realized how much he had wanted this, wanted to be an equal to his brother. Not a replacement. _This is going to be fun._ His brother smirked. No one could read someone's inner thoughts better than an Uchiha. Sasuke knew he didn't need to say anything more.

. . . . .

If Sasuke was nervous about meeting Nagato in person, you'd never know it. Cool and confident, his eyes never wavered as he was admitted to the heavily guarded compound, shaking hands with the killers and mercenaries that his brother introduced him to, already recalling their backgrounds and accomplishments from the sketches Naruto had handily provided. He looked almost bored standing there in his perfectly tailored suit, except for the intensity of his eyes that told everyone he met that he was no one to be trifled with.

They were standing before a pale, emaciated man lying in an enormous bed with tubes and wires attached to him. While the body of the man was clearly failing, they sharp eyes revealed a mind that was still sharp and dangerous. Despite himself, Sasuke felt respect for this man. And curiosity as to how he and Itachi had come to know each other.

"Sasuke-san. I am glad to finally meet you. Itachi has told me much about you," Nagato's voice was surprisingly strong, emerging from that wasted body.

"I have been looking forward to meeting you as well, Nagato-sama" Sasuke said smoothly. "My family is grateful for the protection that you provided my brother."

Nagato looked at Sasuke consideringly. Sasuke didn't flinch. Nagato smiled. "You have a strong brother, Itachi. I would not have imagined that there could be another like you. Individually you are formidable. Together you will be unstoppable. He clearly will be able to hold his own in the political circles that will be required to keep your name out of the papers and off the police radar, should the impossible happen and a flaw ever appear in your complex stratagems. It is unfortunate that we did not get in business together earlier, Sasuke-san."

Sasuke dipped his head in acknowledgement of the compliment. "I look forward to working together with your organization much more closely in the future," he replied.

Itachi spoke up. "Nagato-san. We are in the process of finishing up some old family business. I was wondering if I could borrow Deidara for two days."

Nagato nodded approval. "I was hoping you would be finishing that up before you took over. Loose ends are so untidy, you know."

Itachi's smile was hard and cold, and Sasuke had to force himself not to chaff his arms as the hairs stood up. Sasuke finally understood what his brother had been trying to tell him. He had definitely crossed the line during his disappearance. And Itachi was clearly happier operating in this new world, where there were significantly fewer restrictions on finding a means to an end.

"Dei should be in his room. He would be more than happy to lend his services."

As they were about to take their leave from the ailing man, his voice stopped them. "And Sasuke - say hello to your friend Menma for me. Or whatever his real name happens to be. Tell him I was impressed."

Itachi and Sasuke exchanged quick glances, then Itachi turned slowly back to face the man on the bed. "I'm sorry, Nagato. I didn't mean to deceive you."

"I understand, Itachi. It wasn't your secret to share, and he was clearly not aware that you were here until he saw you that night. He was no threat to me or my organization. I would have done the same in your situation."

"I will give the message to Naruto," Sasuke said, allowing the name to be shared as a sign of trust and partnership, which Nagato acknowledged with a slight nod. Then they turned and left to collect Deidara and brief him on what he would need to do within the next 24 hours.

Then it was on to the next step in Shikamaru's plan.

. . . . .

Orochimaru was literally twitching in ecstasy at having both brothers in his home at the same time. When Kabuto had let him know who was at the gate, he almost had not believed it. But he knew Kabuto would never dare make such an error.

"Would you care for some tea? I had Kabuto prepare it specially," Orochimaru could hardly contain his excitement. Itachi and Sasuke exchanged flat glances.

"I'm sorry, but we just came from lunch," Sasuke apologized smoothly, barely refraining from rolling his eyes as the man's face fell.

"But we have a... delicate favor to ask of you, Orochimaru-sama. One that - if you were to grant it - would leave my brother and I _indebted_ to you," Sasuke let the words hang, and saw the older man's head snap up, eyes narrowing consideringly.

"And in what form would this gratitude of yours manifest itself?" The brothers both noted that the man did not even ask what the favor was. That was a good sign.

"Perhaps we should first explain the favor we are asking," Itachi said. "We hear that Kabuto has a medical background, and has come across many interesting compounds that can have - adverse effects on one's health, but that are very difficult to trace or detect. There is a specific one that we would be interested in procuring. For informational purposes only, of course." Sasuke explained the one they were interested in 'studying'.

Orochimaru smiled. "Naturally. Kabuto - why don't you go and fetch a vial of that while I discuss payment terms with the Uchiha brothers here."

Kabuto obediently left as bidden.

Orochimaru turned to face his guests, his eyes darting between the two beautiful men before him. "I take it that you wish this transaction to remain in confidence just between us, yes?"

Sasuke inclined his head in acknowledgement.

"Very well. I am in no great need of money at the moment. Given that this is a personal favor I am granting you, I would ask a personal token in return," he paused, licking his lips, both Sasuke and Itachi had to school their faces to keep the revulsion from showing in their eyes. "Perhaps a photo, of the two of you together?"

"We know that you have an admiration for the Uchiha family. In respect for that admiration, my brother and I would consider allowing you to take a personal photo of us, for your private use only, of course," Sasuke said calmly.

"Right now?" Orochimaru licked his lips. The men nodded, faces expressionless. "Then perhaps you can removed your jackets and ties, given that this will be a personal photo."

They complied, and Orochimaru had to clasp his hands in his lap to keep them from trembling. There was no doubt that the two figures before him were absolutely flawless, both in terms of physical features, and the power and wealth that they represented. Kabuto returned with a small styrofoam cooler, which he set on the table.

"Kabuto, go fetch my camera." Kabuto turned to comply, and Sasuke thought he caught a slight eye roll from the man. _It must really suck to work for an insane pervert,_ he thought, feeling a flash of wry sympathy for the man.

"You could also unbutton -" Orochimaru's words died in his throat at the twin glares that were angled at him from the brothers. " - your cuffs. And roll up your sleeves." He wisely decided to leave it at that, and the brothers again complied.

When Kabuto returned with the camera, Orochimaru took some time deciding where he wanted them to stand, but finally agreed to have them leaning against the wall, with Itachi's hand on Sasuke's shoulder, both looking directly into the camera.

" _Yes,_ that's perfect," he breathed, looking at the image on the digital screen.

Sasuke and Itachi left with the styrofoam box, both wanting to immediately go home and shower. Neither wanted to discuss what Orochimaru would use the photo for.

-xXx-

Compared to the photo session at Orochimaru's, the press conference would be a piece of cake. Dressed to impress, hair perfectly in place and arrogant demeanors in the forefront, the two brothers emerged from the limo outside the Tokyo offices of Uchiha Enterprises. Their older cousin Shisui followed looking equally formidable, and Kakashi brought up the rear, eyes scanning the crowd. They heard the collective gasps (and a few squeals from the female reporters, and even some of the men), and blithely ignored them as they walked to the podium that had been hastily assembled there. Itachi had smiled in approval when Sasuke had told him what he planned to say in the conference. Sasuke realized that in some way he had been expecting his brother to take this over, or tell him what to say. Itachi had always been masterful at any type of public relations manipulations, or influence of any kind, really. When Itachi merely nodded in agreement with Sasuke's plan, it had been almost a rite of passage moment for him. The warmth in his chest buoyed him through the grueling day.

Sasuke took the podium first, completely at ease in the public scrutiny. "I called this press conference to announce that - after four years of searching - my brother Uchiha Itachi has been reunited with our family." The brothers stood impassively as the frenzy from the reporters ensued. "He suffered injuries and memory loss due to the explosion. Fortunately, a good samaritan helped him and kept him concealed from whomever it was that had targeted him." Itachi almost smirked as he thought of what Nagato's expression would be to hear himself referred to as such. Sasuke ignored shouts from the crowd to reveal this person's identity. "As this was a private citizen, we do not wish to put their safety at risk with a public announcement of their identity. In gratitude, the family and Uchiha Enterprises will reward this person accordingly. Once the police have apprehended the people who attacked our family, we will be more than happy to release the name of the person who rescued my brother." Again, more frenzied questions were calmly ignored.

"Our family physician has examined Itachi and we are pleased to say that he is fully recovered with no lasting effects from the trauma," with that final pronouncement, he turned the podium over to Itachi.

"I want to thank you all for your support and concern during the time of my absence. Uchiha Enterprises was fortunate to have such a prodigy in my brother that he was able to take on running the business at a young age and prevent significant disruption after the tragedy. Given his success, we plan to have him continue as the CEO of Uchiha Enterprises. I have already confirmed with the family attorneys to ensure there is no issue with this. In my absence, I had already begun my own separate ventures, which I will continue to run going forward. I am looking forward to spending time with my family and friends after this long separation. And I again urge the authorities to make every effort to ensure that the guilty party is brought to justice for the deaths of our parents."

With that, the four men walked confidently back to the waiting limo, quickly finalizing the remaining plans, and were swept away leaving an aftermath of panting paparazzi trying to quickly follow them. The reporters thought this was going to be the story of the season. They were wrong.

-xXx-

Gaara and Naruto were watching the news in a sports bar downtown. The press conference yesterday had been masterfully done by Itachi and Sasuke. There was likely not a citizen in Japan who had not heard the news by now. Madara and Danzo must be absolutely frenzied. It was perfect.

It would not be long now. Naruto and Gaara would know when to begin the second phase of the plan as soon as -

 _"Breaking news,"_ the newscaster interrupted the game, which was quite an unusual event. _"A massive explosion was reported in Konoha, in an exclusive neighborhood just outside of town. The information is unclear at this point, but it appears that once again the Uchihas have been targeted for some sort of explosion. No information is available as to whether there were casualties at this point, but a neighbor reported that two young men, one matching the description of Uchiha Sasuke and the other matching the description of his recently missing brother, Uchiha Itachi, had been seen entering the building earlier this morning. This comes just on the heels of the press conference yesterday evening announcing the return of the missing Uchiha. Police are scrambling in the aftermath, as they had assigned multiple security details to the pair and are trying to understand how such an event could have happened on their watch. We will update more on this story as events unfold."_

Gaara and Naruto exchanged glances. "Looks like it's go time," Naruto said. They finished their beers in silence, then paid and headed out.

-xXx-

Sasuke lay absolutely still. The fleet of ambulances and firetrucks that had arrived within minutes onto the scene had been eerily identical to that time four years ago. Except that this time he had recognized the voice of the "EMTs" that had rescued him and brought him to the hospital where he was currently staying. His arms and head were wrapped in bandages, and he was encased in an oxygen tent. The huge number of machines next to him beeped regularly. Nurses came in periodically to check various readings on the machines, but none stayed more than a few minutes.

Shisui had appeared within thirty minutes, consulting with the various doctors and nurses, and insisting that the TV in his cousin's room remain on 'to provide stimulus' while he handled family notifications, police questions, and fielded questions from the board of directors and the press.

So Sasuke was able to hear the press conference where Shisui stated that - as the head of the Uchiha family and Sasuke's nearest relative - he had determined to go against the doctor's advice to disconnect the life support given the severity of the injuries sustained, in the hopes that Sasuke would somehow beat the odds and recover. He said that he planned to run Uchiha Enterprises in the interim, until the time when his cousin could hopefully resume his duties. He confirmed also that the remains of Uchiha Itachi had been positively confirmed by the police, and a funeral would be arranged later that week.

It was less than twenty-four hours later when a second surprise Uchiha was greeting the press. The reclusive Uchiha Madara had contacted Shisui, the family attorneys, and the board of directors. Then immediately called a press conference. He claimed that he had been distraught to hear about this terrible series of events and, having come back in the country a few years ago and estranged from the family, and had not been in touch until how. However, he was more than willing to remove the terrible burden from his younger relative of making these difficult decisions, and would spend the afternoon consulting with Sasuke's doctors and other experts before making the final decision. He wanted to assure all the investor and stakeholders, however, that regardless of the outcome the future of Uchiha Enterprises would be secured, and there would be no disruption in the managing of the business.

-xXx-

"Danzo sent word," Gaara said. "He will see me tomorrow morning." Naruto nodded, mentally preparing himself for what was going to happen next.

"Ready?" Gaara asked simply.

In reply, Naruto simply stood and spread his arms out wide. Without waiting for further invitation, Gaara kicked him hard just below his left collar bone, then followed with a cross across his cheek. As blows continued to rain down on him, Naruto simply stood until he fell to his knees. Shikamaru had suggested using makeup to create the illusion that Naruto had been beaten, but both Gaara and Naruto knew that would never fool someone like Danzo, who reveled in physical violence and knew the real thing from a fake.

-xXx-

It was early the next morning that Madara entered the hospital.

"Uchiha Sasuke has suffered severe brain trauma," the doctor with the blonde ponytails and abnormally large breasts was saying. She had been introduced to him as the family physician for Uchiha Sasuke, and had been one of the first on the scene to evaluate Sasuke. "It is extremely unlikely that he will be able to recover consciousness after such an event."

Madara looked at the young man on the bed. There were two other physicians in the room. One was the chief resident of the hospital, the other was apparently an expert in neurology that the family had called in, Dr. Shizune.

"Then there is no need to allow him to linger in this state," Madara said, his voice epitomizing sad regret. "It is a shame for one so young to have to go out this way. I am sure he would not wish it. Please disconnect the machines. I have already signed the paperwork authorizing this."

The blonde doctor went and pulled back the oxygen tent, leaning over the young man and temporarily obstructing the others' view as she removed the tube from his mouth and disconnected everything except the heart monitoring device. There was a legal official for the hospital present to serve as a witness, along with several other nurses and even three members of the press to monitor such a high profile event. Madara had wanted to be sure this death had sufficient witnesses to be official. A nurse with four blonde ponytails was standing by that machine, apparently checking the readings. The beeping started to slow.

"Do you wish to give him any final words?" the blonde nurse asked sympathetically.

Not one to pass up a potential PR moment, Madara walked over to the bedside and picked up the pale, limp hand that was wrapped in bandages. "Sasuke. I don't know if you can hear me, but I want you to know that you will be going on to a better place. And have no worries... you leave everything in good hands here on earth."

The machine flatlined, and the attending physician brought out his chart to note time of death. But just as Madara made to let go of the hand, the machine beeped wildly back to life. The hand that had been limp in his suddenly tightened its grip, the young man's eyes fluttering open in seeming confusion. In his shock, Madara did not feel the slight prick in his palm made from the tiny needle concealed in the bandages. He gasped, and abruptly crumpled to the floor.

The blonde doctor immediately rushed to the elderly Uchiha's side, checking his pulse. "He's in cardiac arrest! The shock must have overloaded his system."

Cameras were flashing as the neurologist was rushing to Sasuke, proclaiming it a miracle that he seemed to have awoken at the touch of his family, working with the blonde nurse to quickly re-attached some of the wires to his forehead and chest for further monitoring while the regular hospital nurses and attending physician saw to Madara. Sasuke looked to the camera that was monitoring his room where he knew Itachi was watching, and a small smirk ghosted across his features. He had just killed a man in front of no less than twelve witnesses, and there was not a shred of suspicion or medical evidence that would ever bring this to light. Shikamaru was a fucking genius.

-xXx-

They pulled into the long driveway. The guard at the gate called the house to notify them of their arrival. Naruto was in the back seat, hands bound, head lolling to the side. Gaara simply looked at the guard as he told them to wait, that they would be escorted to the house. They both breathed an indiscernible sigh of relief when it was Torune who appeared to ride with them as an escort to the main house. It was the one part of the plan that was the most variable - who would Danzo send to escort them. Naruto was friends with many of the likely candidates, but not all. It would make the plan significantly more dangerous, though not impossible, if Danzo had sent Fu instead. Fu was in charge of most of Danzo's interrogations, and was staunchly loyal to Danzo. He would not be turned. If Danzo had developed more trust-based relationships with his subordinates, he would have known immediately who was safe to send and who was not. But the constant atmosphere of fear and suspicion with which he ran his organization meant that no one revealed any information about themselves or their colleagues to their leader. Danzo therefore had no knowledge as to who was truly loyal and who was merely afraid to go against him. But luck had been with Gaara and Naruto, and it had been Torune who had been sent. Torune's concern at seeing the shape Naruto was in was quickly alleviated as he listened impassively to what Naruto was quietly telling him from the back seat. He looked consideringly at Gaara, then nodded. He was in. And the riskiest part of the plan had been accomplished.

Gaara flung Naruto unceremoniously over his shoulder and headed into the house, ignoring the shocked looks from Torune and the other guards around the compound. It didn't seem physically possible that he would be able to do that. Torune murmured something into the closest guard's ear, and his eyes widened in shock, then narrowed in speculation. Slowly the rumor of the visitors spread through the building.

They were escorted into the central room, which had no windows. Gaara flung Naruto to the ground in front of the older man who sat in a wheelchair, flanked on one side by Torune, and on the other by Fu, whom Gaara had not yet met but recognized from Naruto's drawings. His top lieutenants, Homura and Koharu were also there, in addition to Nono and several other underlings. Homura, Koharu, and Fu were by far the most dangerous to the plan. If this were to work, they would have to be taken out basically simultaneously with Danzo. Naruto had not expected Danzo to have so many in the room with him, and he was grateful that Gaara had forced him to take a partner. He would not have made it out if he had gone alone.

Danzo looked down at Naruto through the eye that was not covered by the bandage that he always wore. "You interfered," he said quietly.

Naruto opened one of his swollen eyes to look directly at the man. Gaara had done a good job of landing blows that would leave the most spectacularly visible signs of abuse, but his body was still fully functional despite appearances. The bindings on his wrist had been tied in such a fashion that a sharp tug would free him. Neither Danzo nor his lieutenants or bodyguards showed any sign of anxiety towards Naruto as a physical threat, clearly focusing their attention on Gaara as the only source of danger in the room. It was a mistake that they had counted on him making.

Gaara and Naruto looked at each other. And both had to bite back a grin. What was wrong with them that they were looking forward to what was going to happen in the next few seconds? Shikamaru was right. This phase had not much to do with strategy, and had everything to do with fighting skills and intuition. And they loved it.

"Yeah, sorry about that, Danzo-sama," Naruto said, sounding anything but. Danzo narrowed his eyes, sensing that something was off. Before he could react, Gaara and Naruto were in motion. In one smooth movement, Naruto had landed a pressure point palm strike to Fu's chest, stopping his heart instantly. It was his first time ever using the move in full force, and it was as effective in practice as it was in theory. The man fell to the floor without a sound. Naruto spun to face Homura, but the man had already recovered from the shock of seeing Naruto in full action and had readied himself. There would not be a second 'sucker punch' opportunity. Homura was only slightly younger than Danzo, and he had years of fighting experience and tactics to draw on. Naruto was younger, stronger, and more agile. It would be an even match.

In the meantime, Gaara had landed his first blow directly to the surprised Koharu's wind pipe, crushing it and effectively removing her from the battle. He turned to face Danzo, who had remained seated in the first few seconds of their surprise attack.

"Shimura Danzo," Gaara said, his voice low and even. "I challenge you for leadership of this enterprise." Change of leadership within Yakuza factions varied in how it was transitioned. Some went from father to son, others to top lieutenants. Danzo had murdered the prior head to take control nearly thirty years ago. He had been fearful of being overthrown, so had never come close to anointing a true 'second in command'. Gaara would have no competition in this claim, with Danzo's staunchest allies either already felled or engaged with Naruto.

Danzo raised one eye, remaining still in his wheelchair. "You would challenge an old man in his wheelchair?"

Gaara snorted. Naruto, with his artist's eye for detail, had long noticed the muscle definition in Danzo's arms and legs, that spoke not of an invalid but of a man still training and in his fighting prime. Gaara was ready when the attack came and Danzo launched himself out of the chair at him. What he was less prepared for was what had been concealed beneath the bandages of the man's left arm. It was some kind of a metal sheath, but it had spines that looked like needles protruding from its surface. Gaara dodged as it just missed his face. Danzo had clearly underestimated his opponent, assuming he would be able to take him on his own.

"Watch for poison!" Naruto shouted, still engaged with Homura. Danzo's eyes flicked to Naruto, and it was the opening that Gaara had needed. He twisted behind Danzo, bringing his leg up and crushing down on the back of the man's neck. There was a sickening snap, and Danzo crumpled. Homura's disbelief at how fast Danzo had been defeated gave Naruto the opening he needed to finish him off as well, and the room was suddenly silent.

"If anyone wishes to challenge me, or does not want to work in this organization, then step forward now. You don't need to take turns." Gaara's cold, green gaze roamed the room, and everyone was frozen.

"This man is Sabaku Gaara, son of Sabaku Kazekage. He is my friend, and I stand by him. You know me, and you know I don't take friendship lightly. This man is stronger than Danzo was, as you just witnessed. But he is also capable of friendship and honor, something that Danzo was not. We took out Fu, Homura, and Koharu because they would never have accepted a new leader, and also because they were untrustworthy. You know what they were capable of. Everyone else we are willing to accept in the new organization that Gaara will lead. There will be no hard feelings for anything up until now," Naruto finished, walking to stand by Gaara's side.

Torune made the first move almost immediately by walking to Gaara and flanking his other side. Followed more slowly by Nono, then several other guards that knew either Naruto personally or Gaara's reputation. The balance of power in the room had quickly shifted, and no one wanted to be on the wrong side of a potentially bloody takeover. Within ten minutes, the coup was over.

Gaara asked Torune and Nono to gather everyone that had not been in the room when the transition occurred so they could discuss the current set of operations and what was going to change going forward, and what would stay the same. As expected, Gaara had no difficulty at all in taking on a role that he had been raised from birth to understand. Despite his cold demeanor, Gaara rapidly won over his new organization with his clear understanding of what was happening, but also his straightforward approach to what he would and would not tolerate his operation to be involved with.

. . . . . . . .

It was late when Naruto returned to his room above Gaara's gym. It had been only six days since he had last been there, but it felt like a lifetime. He turned on the lights, and was surprised when a small projectile launched itself directly into him.

"Naruto nii-san!"

Naruto wrapped his arms around the 9-year-old boy, who had clearly been up waiting for him despite the late hour. "Konohamaru! What are you doing up so late? It's after midnight. Don't you have school tomorrow?"

"No way. I'm staying here to be with you," the boy pulled his face out of Naruto's chest, looking up at him with happy eyes that still were red rimmed with the effects of the boy's worry. He took in the bruises covering Naruto's face and arms. "What?! You lost?! I thought you were supposed to be good or something." His smirk was peeking out.

Naruto ruffled the younger boy's hair. "Nah, brat, we won. Gaara just needed to rough me up a bit so I'd look harmless enough for the bad guys to let us in. But don't worry. We took them out."

Admiration shone in the child's eyes. "I knew you would, Naruto nii-san. You and Gaara nii-san are the best fighters around."

"To bed with you now. I'm turning in, too. It's been a hell of a week, and I have a fight in two days."

Konohamaru was clearly not happy with having to go to bed, but he grudgingly agreed and trudged off to his pallet on the other side of the room. Naruto collapsed into his own bed, feeling the utter exhaustion that comes when sustained pressure and stress are suddenly released. He would have fallen asleep instantly, if not for the tossing and turning he could hear from the boy's pallet. He signed, and opened the blankets on his bed. "Fine, brat. You can sleep here tonight. But no kicking in your sleep."

The boy wasted no time in barreling across the room and diving into the bed. He had been terrified when Naruto had been gone for so long. Every adult in his life had been taken from him, one after the other. Naruto had been looking after him for two years now. It was the longest the boy had ever had someone consistently in his life, and he lived with a gnawing fear that Naruto would also disappear. But now he was back, and the world felt safe again. Within seconds, the boy was sleeping comfortably, holding Naruto's hand. Naruto wouldn't embarrass the child by directly talking about the boy's fears, but he didn't need to. He knew exactly what it was like to be alone in the world. He brushed a strand of hair from the child's face and kissed the top of his head. Then fell into a deep sleep for the next twelve hours, waking only when Konohamaru dumped a breakfast tray on his lap saying that Gaara said Naruto better eat or he'd get his ass kicked in the upcoming match. Naruto grumbled about the boy's rough language, but there was no heat in the reprimand. He knew he had been at least as bad at that age, after all.

-xXx-

The headlines reported the miraculous wakening of Uchiha Sasuke, who had been moved to a private facility for protection and specialized monitoring, and the tragic heart attack of Uchiha Madara, who had evidently been so surprised by witnessing his beloved younger relative come back from the brink of death it had simply overwhelmed his aging heart. An autopsy had confirmed that death had been due to heart failure, and even with the best efforts of the hospital staff he had not been able to be saved. It continued to say that there had been an official announcement by the chief of police that in fact the elder of the Uchiha brothers had been rescued from the explosion by the head of the security team that had been assigned to them, and hidden in protective custody until the situation had stabilized somewhat. There were no leads into the explosion, except that the nature of the explosive devices used was identical to that used in the first blast, including details that had not been released to the public, so they were fairly certain the events were linked. There was speculation that a Yakuza syndicate was behind it, but no hard evidence had been recovered. The investigation was ongoing.

On a back page of the same paper, there was an article that the bodies of four known Yakuza had been discovered at the docks. There had been no witnesses, and it was assumed that this had been some sort of internal power struggle. It was clear from the tone of the article that the police were not making much effort to investigate.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sasuke put down the newspaper and stretched his arms over his head. Since the blast and his 'miraculous' recovery (fully documented with medical evidence supplied by the unbeatable team of Tsunade, Shizune, and Temari), he and Itachi had been making the rounds of the chief of police, district attorney, and city council to ensure that they understood how _grateful_ they were that Kakashi had acted so quickly to protect Itachi. He had almost laughed out loud when Itachi had complimented the chief of police (who just earlier that day had told Kakashi he would be fired for acting without orders) on how well trained his force must be that they could take such action without needing instructions, which clearly would have delayed action and put his life at risk. The brothers had said they expected Kakashi to be appropriately recognized, and received stammering assurances that _of course_ he was going to be officially recognized.

It had been an exhausting week. And Sasuke had not had any time to contact Naruto, even if the scrutiny had allowed it. After all, phase three was his forte. But it was finally done. All the press conferences had been held, the officials instructed on where to focus, and the board reassured. Of course, there would continue to be discussion and speculation about the series of events. If the first explosion had fed the media for almost a year, this would likely go far beyond that. But his role of influencing and shaping the tone and direction of that discussion was complete. The identity of the bomber would of course never be solved. Itachi had convinced a very reluctant Deidara to use the exact same signature of the first bombing, despite the man's statement that the original man had no class and no ability. He had done it, including all the detail from the police report that Naruto had gotten his hands on. It was over.

And finally, the two teams could make contact. Tonight was the night of Naruto's fight. His last fight, if Sasuke had anything to say about it. He looked at the clock, then went upstairs to shower and get ready.

-xXx-

Naruto fought hard to focus on his opponent and not search the audience to see if Sasuke was there. He knew that - if something had gone wrong - it would have been in the news. Or he would have been met by a police squad when he went to his locker room to prepare for the fight. He had been hoping that Sasuke would be able to contact him early, but had known it was unlikely. But it was probably for the best. There were a lot of things that they needed to talk about, and he didn't want the conversation to be rushed. Now that it was over, where would they stand together? Would they go back to being just friends, or friends with benefits? Did Sasuke want more, a real relationship? And even if he wanted that, would his life as a public figure allow them to have it?

He blew out a sharp breath. It amused him, in an annoying way, that he was actually much more nervous about this than he had been about letting Gaara beat him to within an inch of his life and then going to face down Danzo in his own lair. He knew that Sasuke would come this evening. Everyone had agreed to meet up to touch base and figure out any loose ends that had popped up. He just needed to finish this fight. And he was impatient enough that he guessed it wouldn't last too long.

. . . . . . . .

Sasuke was walking down the corridor to Naruto's locker room. He had two bags of take-out with him, knowing how hungry the blond was likely to be. He wanted to put him in a good mood before he made the case for Naruto giving up his fighting career. Sasuke wanted to spend the rest of his life taking care of him, and making sure he never had to do anything as dangerous as what he had spent the past 6 years doing. He wanted them to have a chance at a normal life. Together. He knew Naruto wouldn't be mad at his stupid reaction back at the safe house. He had figured out that Naruto had probably engineered it to keep him from pushing to join him against Danzo. They were definitely going to have a little discussion about that, but he couldn't argue with the end result. Temari and Shikamaru had already informed them two days ago that the second phase had been completed successfully.

Sasuke was surprised when he saw the door to Naruto's locker room swing open. The fight hadn't been overly grueling, but still he would not have expected Naruto to be walking around until after he had at least had his shower and a quick check by Shizune and Gaara. Both of whom Sasuke had just left talking to Itachi upstairs, still ring-side. No one else should be in there.

A tall figure with dark hair emerged from the room. He was wearing a shirt that was cut off showing his abdomen. He looked directly at Sasuke, and smiled a very disturbing smile, bowing very slightly, then turned and walked down the other way. It was a smile that Sasuke recognized, and instantly felt every drop of blood in his veins freeze. He vaguely heard the sound of the bags of food hitting the floor as he took off at a dead sprint to the room where Naruto was.

"Naruto!" he heard his terrified voice echo down the hallway as he reached for the door.

-xXx-

to be continued... (I know... feel free to vent your wrath. But you knew the Sai thing was coming, right?)


	10. Life after death

**Warning: Hard Yaoi/Lemons and FLUFF - this chapter is not appropriate for readers under 18,** or people who wanted Naruto to die at the end (Feel free to read the manga...) But yay! The story is now complete. Thank you for sticking with it until the end. I hope the ending satisfies. It is quite a bit longer than the other chaps, but at least is complete. I couldn't find a good place to break it into two. So here it all is!

-xXx-

Sasuke threw open the door to Naruto's locker room, looking wildly around, his heart pounding. Naruto stood in the middle of the room, his bemused look startled off his face as the door banged open, and he jumped.

"Holy hell! Fucking shit! If one more person busts through that door and scares the hell out of me, I'm going to have a heart attack!" Naruto breathed out a sigh and bent over, with his hands on his knees. He looked up at the panicked expression on the dark haired man's face and saw it shift to confusion.

"Hey, Sasuke. What's up?" He asked with a grin, as Sasuke simply stood there staring at a perfectly healthy and undamaged Naruto and trying to make sense of how that would be possible given that he just saw Sai walking calmly out of the locker room.

The door slammed open again, and both men jumped. "Will someone just shoot me now and put me out of my misery!" Naruto growled.

Gaara looked at Naruto in surprise

"I got a report from security that Sai was seen on the video cameras leaving your locker room less than five minutes ago." Of course, those same cameras had not shown how he got _in_ the room in the first place, which someone would catch hell over eventually, but that was a secondary matter for now. "Itachi went ahead to see if he could catch Sai."

"Text him and tell him to come back. There's no need to track Sai down. He's... he's not a threat anymore."

Sasuke flipped open his phone, and sent a quick text. Itachi returned less than a minute later, only slightly out of breath. Shikamaru and Temari walked in right behind him, having seen Gaara take off at a dead sprint from the ring after someone from security started talking to him. They all looked at Naruto questioningly.

"Sai came in just after I finished my match. I hadn't even made it to the shower. He just stood there, looking at me for a minute. He asked me why I didn't attack him. And I told him... that he was my friend, and I didn't think I needed to, now that Danzo was dead," a small smile ghosted across Naruto's face. "And he just nodded his head. Then he told me he didn't want to fight a friend either." It was the first time that Sai had ever actually used the word 'friend' to describe Naruto. Probably his first time using it ever.

"I told him about what happened with Danzo, and Gaara taking over. And about Itachi. I told him there would be no hard feelings," Gaara and Itachi frowned a bit at this. "Hey, this guy is amazing. Either of you would be lucky to have him if he decides to continue in the business. But he said he didn't really know what he wanted to do now. He wanted to come and talk to me at the dojo sometime while he figured it out. He looked... a little lost, but... hopeful? Then he just gave me one of his weird smiles, and left." Naruto looked up, focusing again on the faces in the room. "And I had just gotten my heart beating again when Teme here slammed in looking like he was going to decapitate someone."

He smiled at Sasuke, who just snorted and rolled his eyes. Sasuke asked, "So... it's over? Sai is not going to come after any of us?"

Naruto shook his head. "No, he's not. I think... he wants a fresh start."

Relief washed over the group collectively.

Itachi looked at Sasuke, whose eyes were locked on Naruto. "Well, it looks like dinner took an unfortunate ride down the hallway," Itachi turned to Gaara and Temari, "Let's go pick up something else and meet up at the dojo in an hour or so?" Temari and Gaara got the hint, but Gaara still insisted in taking a quick look over Naruto to be sure there were no injuries that required someone with medical expertise. Seeing none, he headed towards the door with the others, stating over his shoulder, "I'll let Shizune know she doesn't need to bother checking in on you."

The door closed leaving Naruto and Sasuke alone. There was a moment of silence that began to stretch uncomfortably as the two men simply drank in the sight of each other, but didn't know what to say given the way they had parted the last time they were together.

"You looked great at the press conferences. I mean, no one even thought of questioning anything you guys were saying. It was pretty cool. Like you have some kind of jedi mind-control powers or something."

Sasuke smirked. "Yeah, that's exactly what it was." Sasuke didn't fidget. Normal people fidget. Uchihas do not fidget. His hands were just... moving slightly in a repetitive fashion. "Gaara told me what happened with Danzo. It sounds like it was good there were two of you there to handle it." He tried not to relive the panic he had felt at how close Naruto could have come to dying. If he had gone alone, he would be dead.

This brought back to mind the last time they had spoken, and the argument they had had. Both wanted desperately to have the fight be over, but didn't want to brush off the other's thoughts on it. So they just looked at each other for a minute, waiting for the other to speak.

"I should hit the shower. I'm pretty gross after my fight, and I don't want to start stiffening up."

Sasuke wasn't sure if Naruto was telling him to leave, inviting him to say, or just saying the first random thing that popped into his head. All three seemed about equally likely.

"I could..." wait in the hall? Fuck that _._ "I could help you with that."

And just like that, the awkwardness was broken. Naruto breathed out a huge sigh of relief and walked over to his lover, a small smile on his lips. Sasuke pulled him close, and they stood there for a moment, just holding each other lightly, chins resting on each other's shoulder. They were both alright. All the stress and separation. The worry and the insecurity. It was alright now. They stood there, feeling each other's heart beats strong and steady, warm and alive.

"You really need a shower," Sasuke said after a bit. But he made no move to let go or pull away.

"Yeah. You're such a romantic guy," Naruto tried to sound annoyed, but failed.

"Come on. I'll wash your back."

And surprisingly, that's actually what happened. Naruto turned on the water and let it warm up while they removed their clothing. Sasuke locked the door, then followed Naruto into the shower.

The water was hot, and Naruto's body was sore from both the physical and emotional stresses of the past week. Sasuke took a wash cloth and soaped it up, then proceeded to slowly wash every inch of Naruto's skin, using it as an opportunity to verify that his friend was in fact ok. He frowned over some of the deeper bruises, gradually admitting to himself that he _hated_ Naruto's job. If it were up to him, his friend would never have someone hit him again. He wasn't sure how to bring up the subject, though. And he didn't want that conversation to be rushed by the presence of a dinner appointment.

"I don't have a medical degree or anything, but I am pretty sure that bruises don't wash off," Naruto smiled, and Sasuke realized he had been slowly rubbing the same spot on Naruto's shoulder for quite some time.

"Naruto..." he paused, not sure how to continue. "I don't want you to fight anymore."

Naruto looked at Sasuke, trying to understand what his friend was saying. "Fight what?"

"Fight. Be a fighter. In these underground matches. I mean, I know why you did it to start with. But... do you really want to keep doing this?"

Naruto shrugged. He didn't, really. But he every time he tried to think about what he was going to do with his life now his mind shied away from it. He was a high school drop-out and a runaway, with zero family connections. How many options would he really have? It had been easier to just focus on Danzo and the whole situation surrounding it. But now that was over, and reality was calling.

Sasuke didn't push. He could sense the insecurity and uncertainty in Naruto. Naruto hadn't said he was set on being a fighter. That would be enough for now. They could talk more about it after dinner.

Sasuke poured shampoo on his hands and wordlessly began working it into Naruto's hair, who groaned at the pleasure of the simple but intimate touch. " _God_ , Sasuke. If you ever get bored of ruling the financial world, you could be an awesome hair stylist."

"Pfft."

Naruto simply stood, his head lolling forward as Sasuke massaged his scalp then rinsed the soap off.

Sasuke pulled him close and rested his forehead against Naruto's, enjoying the way their breath seemed to float around each other. "Stay with me tonight at my apartment," Sasuke said softly. Naruto's arms lightly encircled Sasuke's waist.

"You got a place in Tokyo?"

"Yeah. Sometimes I have to stay in the capital with so much of our business happening here, so I got a place a month ago. Now that I'm not being hunted down, we can actually use it."

"Ok. But tomorrow let's stay at mine. Anyway, we have to have dinner with the others first though."

Sasuke didn't like that. This mess that had been keeping them apart for the past four years was finally over. All he wanted to do was just lock the two of them away. But he knew Naruto was right. And it was only dinner. He'd have the rest of the night with his lover. He heard the possessiveness in his thoughts, and mentally shrugged. There was no changing or denying his feelings at this point.

But there was something he really needed Naruto to know. Something that had been pissing him off since Itachi had set him straight in the safe house. Not just pissing him off. Maybe... scaring him would have been a better phrase, but he didn't want to fully acknowledge that emotion.

"You aren't worth less than me, you know."

Sasuke's words seemed totally out of the blue to Naruto. He just blinked in confusion. "What?"

"I'm still not happy with you for that crap you pulled in setting this whole thing up."

Naruto just looked blankly at Sasuke, who realized that this was going to be a longer conversation then they had time for now.

"Let's go meet everyone for dinner. Then you are coming back to my place. And we are going to have a long talk."

Naruto pulled Sasuke flush against him, feeling the instant jump in heat between them as their bodies touched. "I hope there will be more than just talking involved," he breathed against the sensitive spot on Sasuke's neck. "I missed you this past week." He sucked lightly on the pale throat, hearing Sasuke's breath catch.

Sasuke reached over and turned off the water. "Come on. Let's get you dried off and I'll rub you down before you stiffen up."

"I'm already stiffening up," Naruto grinned, pushing his hips up against Sasuke's.

"Idiot," Sasuke pulled Naruto out of the shower and threw a towel at him, not failing to notice the slightly questioning look on the blonde's face. Sasuke was achingly hard, and Naruto had obviously noticed. But he didn't want to dive right back into sex when there was so much they needed to talk about. He had a bad feeling that somehow sex was all Naruto thought he wanted from him, thanks in no small part to a series of rather pointed conversations that Itachi had forced him into over the past week.

_"What do you want to happen between you and Naruto when this is all over?" Itachi asked, in a seemingly casual fashion. Sasuke should have known. Itachi was never just casually curious._

_"I don't know. I suppose I just want to be together, and return to sanity."_

_Itachi looked at him patiently, like someone trying to teach a small child how to hold a spoon. "What do you think Naruto thinks your relationship is at this point?"_

_Sasuke just looked at his brother, knowing Itachi must have a point to this line of questioning, but not knowing exactly what it was. And he generally didn't like answering questions of a personal nature unless he knew whether or not he was walking into a landmine. So he simply continued to look at Itachi with an expression of mild disinterest._

_Itachi smirked, quite used to this very Uchiha-like behavior, despite their years of separation._

_"Because, to an outside observer, most people would assume that you were having a torrid fling with someone far beneath your social class either out of gratitude for his assistance, or because you were just caught up in the adrenaline rush of the events of the past few weeks."_

_At his brother's words, Sasuke flushed in anger and his fists clenched unconsciously. "Naruto is not beneath me. He is worth ten of any of those ridiculous women mother and father tried to set you up with before -"_

_"I know," Itachi said simply, looking calmly at his little brother's very uncharacteristic display of emotion and satisfied with what he saw. "And I am relieved to see that you know as well. But my question is, does Naruto know?"_

_Sasuke shifted. Of course Naruto knew. How could he not know how Sasuke felt? It wasn't as if Sasuke had ever been this intimate with anyone else. He had shown Naruto how much he cared for him. And he had definitely been clear on how much he desired him. And that was the same, wasn't it? But he knew the answer to that, without his brother having to hear him admit it. Damn, Itachi._

_"And I suppose you are thinking that you have plenty of time to figure out the right way to tell him how you feel, and make it clear it is not just sex. I mean, now that this is all over, of course Naruto is just going to hang around and do nothing waiting for you to inform him of the more permanent status you want him to fill in your life. And I am sure that he won't try to do something like find gainful employment for himself, given he seems exactly the type of person to just be waiting for some rich guy to come take care of him."_

_Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Oh, he knew where this was going._

_"But of course, if he did decide to look for work, what would he consider his options to be? Applying for a job at Uchiha Enterprises? Hmmm... he didn't finish high school, and he probably has some pretty obvious holes in his resume given the false identity he has been living under for the past four years. That would basically take him out of the running for a job in any legitimate establishment. Unless of course he was going to use his lover for a reference to get a job. And he seems just the kind of guy to do that, right?"_

_Sasuke's eye twitched. Why had he missed Itachi again?_

_"Then there are the more obvious places he could find work. Gaara would definitely hire him into his new organization, if Naruto didn't decide to continue to pursue his career as a fighter. I would also probably find his unique skills quite valuable."_

_Itachi managed not to smirk when he saw Sasuke's fist visibly twitch in his direction at those words._

_"And of course, there is always Orochimaru. He has an eye for handsome young men after all."_

_That got him. "Shut UP, Itachi."_

_"And once he starts work in one of those organizations, he will be gone. You will never be able to pull him back out, because the police will not let you, no matter how strong your influence will be. You get your hands dirty beyond a certain point and they don't wash off again, no matter how strong the soap."_

_Sasuke took a deep breath, calming his mind and letting Itachi's words sink in. It was annoying, but evidently his brother had not lost the ability to see directly to the heart of the matter._

_"So the question, little brother, is are you willing to put yourself out there enough to convince Naruto that he doesn't need to live a life separate from yours? Can you actually convince him that you see him as an equal, and not a poor orphan that you have decided to provide charity to in exchange for his past help? Because if you can't, you will lose him."_

_Sasuke unclenched his hands, and looked steadily at his brother. And said the only thing he could. "Yes. I can." Because the alternative was unthinkable._

Looking back on their time together, Naruto had disclosed a lot more of his own emotions than Sasuke had. Which was normal for the two of them. Just about anyone disclosed more emotion than Sasuke, and less than Naruto. But when he thought more about what Itachi had told him about Naruto telling Shikamaru that he didn't matter... that needed to be addressed. Even if he was going to have trouble getting his pants on until his body cooled off a bit more, he wanted to wait until they were back at his place, when he could talk to Naruto first. But that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy himself a little now.

"Come here," he said gruffly, pushing Naruto down on the medical table and grabbing the bottle of massage oil that was sitting beside it. He poured the oil from onto his hands and warmed it before kneading it into the well-defined shoulders. He slid his hands down along the toned arms, working the oil into the tired limbs, all the way down to his fingers. Then he slid his hands back up and began working down from the shoulders across the contours of the muscles of the shoulder blades, and down along the spine.

Naruto groaned in appreciation. Sasuke almost did as well. God, Naruto had a beautiful body. Years of fighting had trained it into a taut, sleek thing of beauty. He continued down the taper of his waist, but when he started working on his ass, Naruto reached a hand out and stopped him. "Sasuke... I get that you want to wait until we get back to your place tonight. And I am trying really hard to respect that. But I swear to god that if you keep going, I am going to do all the things I told you I would the last time you were in here, drugs or no."

Sasuke hesitated. He had had some rather sweaty dreams of exactly that for weeks after that encounter. But he tamped down on his libido. Sex with Naruto was amazing. But he wanted so much more than that from him. And he wasn't willing to settle tonight.

Reluctantly, he lifted his hands from the bronzed, slickened skin. He heard Naruto sigh, and felt a twinge of guilt. But it was the right call, and on some level they both knew it.

-xXx-

Everyone was clearly surprised when Sasuke and Naruto actually showed up for dinner. Naruto was, too, but he didn't want to push Sasuke on it. And it was good to be able to catch up with Itachi and the others to hear all the details of how things had gone down.

"Where is Konohamaru?" Naruto asked Gaara.

"He knew you had a fight tonight, so he stayed at Moegi's as usual."

Naruto nodded. Udon and Moegi were Konohamaru's closest friends. Whenever Naruto was gone from the dojo, usually he would end up at one or the other's house.

Itachi had brought Lebanese take-out and red wine to celebrate the success of Shikamaru's plan. Gaara and Naruto were both interested in how the discussions had gone with the chief of police and city council members, and were relieved to hear that there seemed to be nothing to worry about on that front.

"So how did you end up being the one to take out Madara?" Naruto asked Sasuke. "I would have thought it would have been better to have Itachi do it, to keep your hands clean. One of us needs to be above reproach... don't we?"

Sasuke frowned a bit at Naruto's comment, so Itachi answered for him. "Actually, that was what finally tipped the scales for Sasuke being the one. One of us had to be confirmed dead to draw Madara out of hiding and to action to disconnect life support for the survivor. He would not have taken the risk of both of us had seemed to survive, even if barely. If Sasuke faked his own death, there could be legal fall-out later and also financial implications with the business. I was already 'tainted' by my disappearance last time. So there was nothing more for me to lose in terms of that. Additionally, there would be more scrutiny to my actions, and more skepticism, which would have made the overall plan riskier. Sasuke is simply above suspicion, as was amply proven."

Naruto nodded, but he still got chills when he thought of Sasuke lying practically helpless in such close proximity to someone as ruthless as Madara. He took a deep breath and a drink of his wine. But it was all over now. And while that thought brought him immense relief, he had to admit there was an underlying uneasiness about what would happen next between him and Sasuke. He looked up to find the man's gaze locked on him, with an intent expression on his face. He tried to decipher what it meant, but couldn't. His anxiety about why Sasuke had pulled away from him in the locker room ratcheted up. Maybe he wanted to go back to being friends? The thought was not a comforting one. He tried to stay focused on his friends around him to distract himself.

He noticed the way that Shikamaru's and Temari's eyes seemed to keep finding each other as they talked through everything that had happened. Gaara noticed as well, and his eyes narrowed slightly, making Shikamaru visibly twitch. Naruto kicked him under the table, and Gaara sighed, but relented. After some time, Naruto even caught Gaara smiling slightly when he caught Shikamaru and Temari locked in another heated glance. He would likely never admit it, but it was clear he approved.

When dinner was over, the group began to disperse. Itachi caught Sasuke's eye, and raised one brow challengingly.

Sasuke looked at Naruto, noticing the way he was fiddling with his glass of wine, seemingly lost in thought. He placed his hand on the blond's shoulder. "Let's go."

. . . . . .

As expected, the apartment that Sasuke had purchased was not really an apartment. 'Penthouse' would have been the more accurate term, with three bedrooms, a full kitchen, office, and living room with fireplace. And in downtown Tokyo, Naruto couldn't even imagine what something like that would cost. They took off their shoes, and Naruto began to wish they had spent the first night in his room at the dojo instead of here, because then he wouldn't have thought about the comparison. It was just another reminder of how different the worlds they lived in were. The sinking feeling that had been growing in him since the locker room suddenly seemed to overwhelm him and he just stood there, looking around holding his pack.

He looked up to see Sasuke's eyes locked on him, searching his face for something. Apparently Sasuke didn't like what he had read in Naruto's expression, because he blew out a frustrated breath and narrowed his eyes, thrusting his hands into his pockets.

Sasuke stood there for a moment, as if trying to decide something. Abruptly he started speaking.

"Do you remember, ten years ago, what you asked me in that alley?"

Naruto thought back. "I asked you several things. But the one you didn't answer was what you were doing there in the first place."

"Right. I didn't really know how to answer that question back then. But I do now."

However, he didn't appear to be in a hurry to do so, because he abruptly stopped talking. If Naruto didn't know for a fact that it was genetically impossible for an Uchiha, he would have said that Sasuke looked nervous.

"I was... looking for you," he said so quietly that for a second Naruto thought he must have misheard him.

"What?" Naruto appeared completely dumbfounded. "Why?"

"Because I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to be... your friend." Naruto's shocked expression just underscored to Sasuke how important it was that they were having this conversation. Naruto clearly couldn't fathom a reason that Sasuke would ever have noticed him much less sought him out. "You were so different from everyone else. You were..." Sasuke searched for the right word, looking somewhere over Naruto's right shoulder. "... real. Everyone that I had met up until that point, adult or child, male or female, all fit into the same mould. They wanted something from me, something for themselves. They were fake, with pretention, greed, jealousy, or all three. But you were... just you." He made a small gesture with his hands, trying to express how rare that was.

"Everyone saw me as some sort of a means to an end. Even my father. But when you looked at me, you didn't seem to have any ulterior motive, any hidden agenda. You just... looked at me. You didn't try to find ways to suck up to me or ingratiate yourself. And you didn't talk about me behind my back or try to run me down to try to build yourself up. Sometimes I'd hear you shut someone down who was trying to make things up about me, even though we weren't even friends."

Sasuke looked directly at him. "You have no idea how rare it is for a person to not want to either take advantage of those around them, or take them down. My father had taught me that was the fundamental truth of human behavior. That everyone falls into one of those two buckets, and life is just a matter of recognizing which bucket people are in, and - if they are in the first one - understanding what their objective is and whether there can be mutual benefit in their achieving it. But you... you are to this day the _only_ person I have ever met who is not like that. You are unique _._ And I wanted to get to know you. To find out if it could really be true that someone like you could exist. And then, you helped me, and still didn't seem to want anything other than..."

"To be your friend," Naruto finished for him, smiling slightly. He grinned a little. "Although to be perfectly honest, by the time I was fourteen I was starting to have confusing feelings about you that definitely went beyond just friendship."

Sasuke smirked. "Yeah, Itachi thinks that there was more to my fascination with you besides a need to categorize as well, but at ten it was pretty hard to recognize."

Naruto shrugged one shoulder, looking uncertain. "But I figured there was no point in my trying to be your friend. I mean, what could you possibly want with a friend like me? I had no money, no family to speak of, my grades were not impressive, so clearly my career wasn't going to be much. While you had... everything. You are such an amazing person, Sasuke. So much more than I could ever be."

"No, Naruto. Money and degrees and family connections have nothing to do with the person you actually are. Those are things you luck into through birth. Look at Madara, or my father for that matter. They don't really say anything about your worth as a person. In a world full of people who have all that, you are still the only real human being I have ever met. The only one that really matters to me," Sasuke walked over until he was standing just inches in front of Naruto, looking intently into his eyes to make him see the truth in what he was saying. "Why would I want anyone else? God, Naruto. You have no idea how suffocating it was when you left. I felt like the only time I could breathe was when I'd get those ridiculous post cards from you, letting me know you were ok and that you hadn't forgotten about me."

Sasuke ran a hand along Naruto's cheek, looking at the absolutely shocked expression on his lover's face, and the sheer humility of his friend nearly brought him to his knees. "Do you really have no idea how amazing and special you are? Can you really not see that there is no one on this earth I will ever want besides you?"

"Sa-" Naruto grabbed Sasuke and kissed him, breathing the rest of his name into his mouth, his throat too constricted to make it audible. Emotion completely swamped him, and he could only express what Sasuke's words had done to him through touch. He fisted his hands into the black hair, pressing Sasuke's mouth to his until they were both gasping for breath. Naruto kissed feverishly down the pale column of Sasuke's throat, drinking in the moan that it elicited from his lover. He was desperate to express how much he loved this man, how much it meant to him that Sasuke had trusted him enough to reveal something like this to him. He knew Sasuke, and knew that such declarations did not come easy. Were not natural to him.

Naruto's hands slid down Sasuke's back and cupped his ass, pulling him to Naruto's hips and pressing their erections together. They both groaned. Sasuke grabbed Naruto's shirt and pulled it over his head, throwing it off to the side and Naruto mirrored him. They ran their hands over each other's naked torso, reveling in the closeness and feel of skin against skin. They both felt a burning need to be together completely, with no barriers, and their pants were quickly discarded as well. Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the hand and pulled him into the master bedroom. Naruto set his pack on the nightstand and turned to face his lover, his eyes searching the face he had loved since childhood. The black eyes that met his were full of an emotion that Naruto had not even dared to hope for. Slowly, reverently, Naruto raised his hand to stroke the pale cheek, his thumb brushing along the cheekbone.

"Sasuke...," he leaned in, brushing his lips gently over his lover's. "I love you. So much. I -"

Sasuke crushed their mouths together, feeling his own emotions surge up and catch in his throat. He hadn't realized how much he needed to hear the words when Naruto was fully awake, even though Naruto had more than demonstrated how he felt. Nothing else mattered. Only Naruto. How had he lived so long without this? He would never let him go. He could lose anything else, but not Naruto.

Their bodies twined together, as if trying to remove the last physical barriers to their souls reconnecting with their missing halves. Whatever shields each man had built over time to protect themselves from the outside world were shed like their clothes, and they faced each other emotionally naked and exposed. Their eyes locked as their breathing rasped. "Don't ever leave me," Sasuke whispered.

"Never," Naruto breathed into Sasuke's mouth. And then they were kissing each other, as though their lives depended on it. Their fingers locked together and their bodies pressing flush against each other. Naruto slid his hands up Sasuke's arms and one hand cupped the back of his neck while the other supported his weight on the bed. Sasuke arched up beneath him, thrusting against Naruto's pelvis, his hands running over the contours of Naruto's back.

"Naruto -" he choked out, both a plea and a command. Naruto thrust his hand into his pack, pulling out the oil but knocking over the lamp on the nightstand in his haste.

Sasuke grabbed the oil, pouring some into his hands and rubbing it over Naruto's erection. Naruto's arms shook and he arched back in the sheer intensity of the pleasure.

"Sa-s'ke," he palmed some oil off the pale fingers to slicken his own, and ran his hands down Sasuke's stomach to the hip joints, massaging small circles there while he kissed him deeply. He then wrapped one hand around Sasuke's erection while the other slipped a finger into his entrance. Sasuke arched up off the bed at the intimacy and pleasure of the dual touches.

"Hurry, Naruto, can't wait," Sasuke panted, feeling the trembling in Naruto's hands and knowing he was at his limit as well. Naruto slipped another finger in, scissoring as he continued to pump on Sasuke's cock, knowing that despite being desperate to be joined together, he did not want this to be painful for the man he loved beyond anything else. But Sasuke was impatient, and pulled Naruto's scissoring fingers out and wrapped his legs around Naruto's waist, pulling the blonde's erection flush against him.

"Now," he said sharply. Naruto gave a husky laugh, more than happy to comply.

"Bossy," he said, slowly pushing in, pausing to give Sasuke time to adjust, then sliding the rest of the way in. "God, S'uke. So good."

Sasuke groaned, throwing his head back and tipping his pelvis up as Naruto thrust against his prostate. "Na-Naru-to!"

They thrust together, joining again and again, lost in the merging of their bodies as their emotions spilled over them. "Love you, Sasuke. Always you. Only you."

"Na-ru-to!" Sasuke came, the words that Naruto had given him weaving through his heart and soul. He would never love anyone else. Only Naruto.

Naruto quickly followed, and they collapsed together on the bed, content to just hold each other, and slowly drifted off to sleep

. . . .

They woke sometime in the night, and showered together, taking pleasure in washing each other. It was amazing how a few words had changed things between them. How much more they felt when the touched each other, with the uncertainty and insecurity gone. They had just finished rinsing the soap off and Naruto reached to shut off the water, but Sasuke caught his wrist. "Not this time," he breathed hotly into the blonde's ear. Then he proceeded to pin Naruto against the wall, to the extreme pleasure of both of them.

Later, of course, they had to wash each other all over again, but neither minded.

. . . .

It was nearly dawn, and they lay in the bed, facing each other. Naruto gently stroking Sasuke's side.

"What are you going to do now?" Sasuke asked. Casually. Not as though his entire life depended on how Naruto answered this question. He knew it had to be Naruto's choice. He wasn't his mother. But he would do everything in his power to convince Naruto to do something that wouldn't put him at risk anymore.

"It's hard. I mean... for so long I have been focused on catching Danzo. Now that it's over, I really don't know what I should do," Naruto breathed out noisily, and he rolled on his back with his fingers laced behind his head. This was hard for him to talk about with Sasuke. Sasuke was so successful, and had an amazing career ahead of him. Naruto was - a dropout. Sasuke seemed to understand this. He rested his chin on Naruto's shoulder, his hand settling over the tanned chest.

"You did what no one else could do," Sasuke said honestly.

"I guess. But now... I don't really know what to do next. I mean, it's not like I have a killer resume that will land me a decent job," Naruto paused, forcing himself to think about the subject he had been avoiding with himself. "But to be honest, I don't even really know what I want to do. I mean, fighting is fine, and I am decent at it, but it's not a career I want. It just helped me form contacts within the Yakuza when I needed to, and now helps me provide for the kids. But I don't enjoy it. I like running the dojo, though. But in that neighborhood, without the paid fights, I wouldn't be able to keep it going."

"But I suppose," Naruto hesitated, blushing a bit. "I guess... I want to... finish school. At least, pass the tests so I can get a high school certification, and then figure out what I want to do." He dropped his eyes. Here he was, talking to a man who had literally made the front page of the news by being so brilliant that he was able to skip entire years of school and get into the most prestigious programs, while Naruto had simply dropped out of school and by now had probably forgotten so much of what he had learned in the earlier years they would have to drop him back to grade school.

Sasuke pulled him into his arms, kissing the top of his head. "I think that is a fantastic idea. Shikamaru and I will help you. He helped me when I had to finish as well. You had my back while I finished school. Now let me have yours."

Naruto closed his eyes, feeling a strange sense of peace wash over him. After a bit, he nodded. He realized that for the first time in his life, he was not going to have to make these kinds of decisions alone. Sasuke would be there with him. And they would figure it out together. He wondered if this was what it felt like to have a family.

-xXx-

Sasuke was going to spend the morning and afternoon working in his office, while Naruto needed to go over to the dojo to talk with Gaara about taking over running it while he transitioned into his new role in Danzo's organization.

Naruto looked up from his breakfast as Sasuke walked into the kitchen, looking like he just stepped off the cover of GQ in his immaculate power suit. Naruto could barely keep from messing him up and peeling him out of it. God he was sexy in a suit. He wondered if the effect of seeing Sasuke dressed for work would ever wear off, or if his life from here on out would be a daily battle of not molesting his boyfriend when he was on his way to work. He grinned at the thought.

They planned to meet up at the dojo a little before dinner. Naruto smiled. "You'll get to meet the kids, then."

Sasuke just looked at him, not really sure how he felt about that. He had never really interacted with children, except when he was one. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted to change that. But the look on Naruto's face convinced him to at least give it a shot.

. . . . .

Naruto and Sasuke walked into the dojo, and were instantly mobbed by more than a dozen kids ages of 5 to 12.

"Naruto nii-san! Where were you?" "Nii-san, are you back to stay?" "Nii-san I missed you!"

Sasuke watched with amusement as Naruto talked to each child, giving them a hug or head ruffle, his face shining with happiness at 'his kids'.

"Everyone, I want you to meet my friend, Uchiha Sasuke," Naruto said, and Sasuke felt fourteen pairs of eyes shift to him. The youngest - Ayame, a girl who looked about five - spoke first.

"Uchiha Sasuke... aren't you the one who keeps getting blown up?" She walked over to him and sniffed. "But you don't smell smoky."

Her boldness opened the floodgates. "Are you really Uchiha Sasuke?" "Is it true that Sai tried to kill you?" "Did Naruto Nii-san rescue you?" "Do you know how to fight, too?" Sasuke hadn't had a chance to respond to any of the questions that were peppered at him before a forceful voice caught his attention.

"He's the one who put you in danger, Nii-san. You shouldn't spend time with him." Sasuke looked to see the wary eyes of a boy who looked to be about 9 years old locked on him, but the boy's hand was clasping Naruto's like a lifeline. Instantly, Sasuke found himself on the receiving end of 14 very protective and now slightly hostile gazes. As an Uchiha, he was of course immune. But it did catch his attention. And Naruto's. "Konohamaru..." Naruto said warningly.

"Is it true nii-san?" "Are you going to take Nii-san away from us?" "Are you a bad man?" "Why did you come here?" A new round of questions burst forth from the children.

"Alright, guys. Lock it up! Seiza!" Naruto called out in a sharp command, his voice totally different from the joking, casual one a moment before, and the children responded instantly, snapping to attention.

"Osu, Sensei!" The shouted in unison, instantly forming a semi-circle around him, then kneeling down into seiza position with their backs straight, and legs folded neatly beneath them with their knees two fists apart.

Naruto nodded to his students, acknowledging their show of respect. "Now, I know that you were all upset that I was gone for a week, and I know you were worried. But I am going to tell you what happened, and exactly how I know Sasuke."

And to Sasuke's surprise, Naruto did. The kids smirked when Naruto described the fight that he and Sasuke had when they were ten with the gang of bullies (because of course their Sensei could take out 8 bad guys who were older!), and Sasuke was relieved that Naruto had included that Sasuke had fought as well so he didn't feel like a total idiot. He described the informal dojo they created, and also how Sasuke had taken them all out with PVC pipes when he had demonstrated his Kendo techniques. Several of the older kids in particular flicked interested glances as Sasuke, clearly wondering if he was still willing to teach what he knew.

When Naruto got to the part where he had to run away from home because his foster mom was 'bad to him', the older kids exchanged dark glances, fully understanding what that likely meant. Sasuke shifted when Naruto told them that Sasuke had offered to kill the woman, but the kids only nodded that of course that was an appropriate offer to make. And by the time Naruto told them about how Sasuke had helped him by gathering money quietly from his friends and himself so that Naruto would be able to afford a safe place to stay, the kids were firmly on Sasuke's side. Little Ayame popped up from her seiza (which had been wilting), and crawled into Sasuke's lap, planting a soft kiss on his cheek. "Thank you for helping Nii-san, Sasuke-san," she said quietly. Then simply latched onto his arm and remained on her newfound seat on his lap.

Naruto held his breath waiting to see what Sasuke's reaction would be. The man seemed simply frozen for an instant, then a dark blush crept over the pale cheekbones, a sight that Naruto would have sold his soul to capture on video. And slowly he brushed a soft kiss on the top of the child's head. "You're welcome."

Naruto felt so much emotion in that moment that his throat closed up, and he had to clear it to continue. When he got to the part with Sasuke's family being killed on his birthday, several more of the younger children crawled over to touch their new hero, some with tears. And Sasuke was touched in a way he had not been from the formal sympathy that had been offered to him by family friends and business associates. These children knew his pain, had felt its burden. The sympathy they showed for him was real, not based on some sort of social expectation or ingratiation, but because they hurt that he had hurt. They all understood loss, and they saw in Sasuke the same deep pain that they also suffered from, even though he hid his well. Few of them were fortunate enough to have even one parent still around, and many had lost siblings as well. Sasuke felt a strange kinship with them, as though somehow their shared sense of loss connected them in a much more fundamental way than something superficial like social standing or family background could. And he knew in that instant why Naruto cared so much for these children. They were like him. Like both of them.

Naruto skimmed through the part where they took down Danzo, and he didn't mention Madara at all, but it didn't matter. The kids were now happily in love with their new hero, and welcomed him wholeheartedly into their fold. Konohamaru had come over to him, and while he did not do anything so unmanly as sit in his lap, he had bumped his shoulder up against Sasuke's, and quietly said, "Thanks. And I'm sorry I gave you a hard time."

"That's ok... you should give people a hard time that put Naruto at risk." The two shared an instant bond of love and protectiveness over their blond.

Sasuke realized that of all the people he had had to win over in his rise to the top of his business empire, none had mattered more to him than the ragtag group of children surrounding him. He reached out and grabbed Naruto's hand, and felt him squeeze it in return.

"Ok, now! How about if we show Sasuke here what you have learned. Let's go through the first three forms. Everyone line up. Heian Shodan!"

The children bounced up and spread out into two lines, by age. They bowed, then called out in unison. "Heian Shodan!" And began to go through a series of blocks, punches, steps, and kicks in synchronized order. At certain points, they shouted out sharp kiai's in unison. And Sasuke was not surprised at all that Ayame had the loudest of them all, her kiai coming out in a loud "Taaaayyyyyyyy!"

Sasuke looked over at Naruto, and saw the love and pride shining on his face as he watched his students. _This is what he's meant for,_ Sasuke realized suddenly. Helping children, and teaching them. Several ideas sprouted in his mind. There were options that Naruto could pursue, that didn't involve the Yakuza or taking a handout from Sasuke. Options that could make use of strengths and experiences that Naruto had in abundance. Something that would fulfill him.

After class, Naruto brought the kids into the small kitchen area, chatting with them about their week. Sasuke noticed how Naruto seemed to talk with them casually, but managed to get out of each child what they had eaten that day, whether they had gone to school, and whether they were worried about anything while he made sandwiches and gave them juice. Naruto had clearly mastered the art of covert interrogation, and evidently not limited its application to the Yakuza. When it was time for everyone to go home, Naruto asked if anyone needed a place to stay for the night. Ayame, looked down, but walked over to Naruto and nudged him with her shoulder. "Mama has a new boyfriend," she said quietly. There was a collective growl from the other kids, all of whom felt intensely protective about their youngest member.

Naruto looked at the girl closely, then gently brushed the bangs that the girl had off to one side, revealing a purplish bruise on her forehead that had not been visible before. Sasuke felt his insides freeze up in rage and absolute hatred for whomever had done this. Naruto smiled gently at the girl, but Sasuke could see the same emotion raging in those blue eyes. "You can share the room with Konohamaru tonight. Tomorrow I'll go and have a chat with your Mama's boyfriend and explain to him that it's not right to hit, ok?"

Complete trust beamed from Ayame's eyes, and she nodded and smiled happily. Konohamaru came over and took the smaller girl's hand, smiling gently at her, then flashing a look at Naruto that said " _I hope you kill and castrate the bastard that did this and I can't wait until I am old enough to come with you and help._ "

Naruto grinned back, clapping his hand on the boy's shoulder.

With that final bit of drama, the rest of the children dispersed. Sasuke wondered what kind of home they were returning to. And he realized that, surprisingly, it mattered to him. He was thoughtful as he and Naruto showered together then went to bed. They were wrapped in each others arms, just talking about the children, their back stories, and the types of things Naruto had intervened on in the past.

"So what are you going to do with the boyfriend tomorrow?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto's smiled a smile that literally made the hairs on Sasuke's arms stand up. "This isn't the good part of town. I don't need to mince words. I'm going to explain to him the dangers of crossing the wrong people in a Yakuza neighborhood in a way that is impossible to misunderstand. It's probably best if you sit this one out."

"No way in hell. I want to see that bastard go down."

Naruto heard the raw emotion in his lover's voice, and was surprised and then immensely pleased by it. He pulled Sasuke close and kissed him hard, then began a slow slide down his chest. By the time he had reached the waistband of Sasuke's pants, he could already feel his pulsing erection. Slowly, Naruto pulled down the pants, freeing his lover's cock. "Speaking of going down," he said, and pulled the head into his mouth. Sasuke threw his head back and groaned.

Naruto spent the rest of the night showing his immense appreciation of his friend's emotional support.

-xXx-

They had spent a week in Tokyo, alternating between Naruto's place at the dojo and the penthouse, but honestly spending more time at Naruto's despite the smaller size. Sasuke had spent most days at the Tokyo office of Uchiha Enterprises, while Naruto had been spending time sketching out renovation ideas for the upper floor of the dojo to turn more of the storage areas into bedrooms, and adding another bathroom. He had also been looking into night classes for becoming a family counselor, but knew he would have to pass the high school exams first.

Itachi and Gaara stopped by occasionally, both having taken an interest in the idea of a more substantial shelter for the kids. Gaara had bonded with many of the kids during Naruto's absence. Itachi had at first come just to witness the unbelievable sight of his stoic baby brother emotionally entangled with a bunch of kids, but Itachi soon fell prey to the same charm and sense of belonging that had ensnared Sasuke. And also the same urges to defend them. And while Naruto could be intimidating, Itachi was downright terrifying to anyone who dared threaten any of the kids.

Surprisingly, Sai had also begun showing up at the dojo. At first just to talk with Naruto, but slowly he was drawn in by the children, as they recognized him as a kindred spirit. And somehow, that contact did more to begin healing his psyche than any number of conversations with adults could have done.

. . . .

"I think we should live in Tokyo," Sasuke said one morning, while they were laying in bed.

"But... Uchiha Enterprises are head quartered in Konoha. Won't that be a problem for you?"

"Honestly, no. They were only head quartered there because my family had lived there for so long. But the family is dispersed now. The old estate was destroyed four years ago. And honestly few of my executives like living so far from the capital where most of our business takes place. It would make more sense for us to relocate the head quarters here anyway," Sasuke paused. "And then we'd be able to spend more time with the kids. And maybe... make a more formal arrangement for caring for Konohamaru, and maybe even Ayame."

Naruto felt his heart clutch. It was everything he wanted. "A more formal arrangement?"

"I think we should apply to be their foster parents. Konohamaru basically lives with us as it is, and he has no other family. This way we could officially take care of him, be more involved with his schooling, and future. And Ayame's situation is not acceptable. Her mother doesn't care for her. If we were in Tokyo, they could still see each other, but her mother wouldn't be able to hand her over to her boyfriends when she didn't want to deal with her anymore."

"You would... you would do that?" Naruto had known that Sasuke had become attached to the children, but he never would have thought he would go this far for them. To actually make them a family.

"I don't know if our application will be accepted. We are two young males living together. But will my family name and a little influence, I figure it's worth a try."

Naruto knew that this morning was not a morning he was going to win the battle of self control. Sasuke was considerably mussed before he was able to finally leave for work. Much, much later.

. . . . . . .

When Sasuke said he had to return to Konoha for a week to deal with some of the business operations there and begin the transition of the head quarters to Tokyo, Itachi and Gaara agreed to watch over the group of kids so Naruto could go with.

"You can introduce me to your friends," Naruto said. Sasuke had grimaced, not really wanting to. But when Suigetsu had heard Sasuke was back in town, he had called and invited him to his house. At first Sasuke had said no, but Naruto had said that he should go, especially since they were moving to Tokyo and wouldn't likely be back much.

Sasuke had reluctantly agreed, but only on the condition that Naruto accompany him. He had warned Naruto that Suigetsu's parties could be a bit wild, but Naruto had just shrugged it off.  After all, he'd partied with gangsters, so how much worse could it be?

. . . .

Naruto was shocked. Evidently even gangsters had more morals and boundaries than the idle rich. He found himself in a room surrounded by drunken people either having sex, or actively looking for a partner (or several partners) for that purpose.

Sasuke was on his third or fourth drink by now, and Naruto had decided he was not even going to try to keep up. They sat together at one of the bars that seemed to be in almost every corner of the house, while Sasuke explained who different people were an occasionally introduced a few.

"Sasuke! You came!" A man with oddly pointy teeth and white hair came up to them, putting his arm around Sasuke's shoulders while looking Naruto up and down. "And I see you brought your own treat for the evening. He looks delicious! Wherever did you find him?"

Sasuke pushed the man's arm from his shoulder, scowling a bit. "Naruto, this is Suigetsu. We went to business school together. Suigetsu, this is Naruto. We grew up together. He's not my 'treat for the evening'. He's my boyfriend."

It was the first time Sasuke had applied a label to them out loud. Naruto looked over at his friend, trying to gauge how he felt about it.

"Oh, so he is the original, I take it?" Suigetsu asked, looking Naruto over with avid curiosity.

Sasuke looked distinctly uncomfortable, and gave a sidelong glance at Naruto, then a glare at Suigetsu. Suigetsu immediately got the message. "Ok, ok! I won't talk about it. Well, it was good to meet you, Naruto. If you ever find yourself at loose ends and are looking for something to do, just give me a call." He ran his arm down Naruto's shoulder and bicep. "Mmmm, very nice."

Naruto jerked his arm away.

"Suigetsu," Sasuke growled. The man put his hands up placatingly.

"Alright, alright. I'll leave you two alone." He turned and walked away, immediately accosted by another party-goer.

"Sorry about that," Sasuke said, wondering what it was that had possessed him to bring Naruto here in the first place. This was fine for singles, but was not really a crowd for someone already attached. And it wasn't like he wanted Naruto and Suigetsu to become friends. Or really anyone here. These were exactly the kind of people that Sasuke had been disgusted by.

"Don't worry. He's way less creepy than Orochimaru."

That thought had Sasuke downing the remainder of his drink, the bartender immediately refilling it. He noticed that Naruto was still working on his first, and was about to ask him if he wanted a refill or something different when they were interrupted by a loud shout almost directly into Naruto's ear.

"Oh, my god! You're Menma aren't you?" A drunken girl draped herself over Naruto's shoulder, completely ignoring the narrowed eyes of the man sitting next to him. "You're even hotter in person. Can I see your tattoo?" She began pulling up Naruto's shirt, which didn't cause as much notice as you would expect given other things going on in the room. Naruto grabbed his shirt before it was lifted off him and tried pulling it back down.

"Look, I think you might have had a little too much to drink," Naruto tried to disentangle himself gently from the woman, keeping his hands firm enough to prevent her surprisingly aggressive attempts to get his shirt off. Sasuke rolled his eyes at the understatement. "I'm actually involved with someone, so you're going to have to find someone else for this evening."

She girl pulled back, looking around Naruto. "I don't see anyone with you," she said, sounding a bit petulant.

Naruto sighed, trying not to be annoyed. Sasuke wasn't so patient. "He's with me, Karin. So get the hell off him."

"What?" the girl shrieked. "He's GAY? Menma can NOT be gay. Do you have any idea what I did to myself watching you? You CANNOT be gay!" She stomped her foot, not unlike Ayame.

Naruto blushed, embarrassed on the girl's behalf. This was exactly why he didn't drink very much. Sasuke just took a large swallow of the drink he was holding, and stood, grabbing the girl's arm. "I said he was with me. Go find yourself another playmate."

She tossed her head, giving Sasuke a glare. She had pursued Sasuke for years, finally giving up only after repeated evidence that Sasuke was interested in blond men, not red-headed girls. She turned sweetly back to Naruto. "Well, when you finish up with the ice prince tonight, why don't you give me a call."

Finally even Naruto's temper snapped. "Look, I'm not interested in anyone else, ok? I'm sorry, but I'm not going to call you. And I certainly am not going to bed hop from person to person," Naruto turned to Sasuke, who was just finishing his fifth? drink. "What the hell, Sasuke. What kind of friends do you have, anyway? I mean, sharing is good, but only up to a certain point."

The girl started to laugh. "Oh, Sasuke doesn't share. He just never repeats. He'll fuck you once tonight then never talk to you again. That's just his m.o."

"Fuck off, Karin," Sasuke said, but his tone carried a dangerous note that penetrated the drunken haze the girl was in. She flinched and staggered away.

Naruto and Sasuke just looked at each other for a moment, Sasuke seeming a bit uncomfortable, Naruto looking amused.

"So seriously, these are your friends? No wonder you are an antisocial, alcoholic bastard. The Yakuza are way more interesting. And have more morals."

Sasuke snickered. His head was spinning slightly. It was so good to have Naruto back in his life. Everything made sense again. And Naruto was right. What the hell were they doing here anyway? He was so glad they had decided to move to Tokyo. There was nothing left for him here. He decided to go to the bathroom. Naruto was going to get some food. Then he'd take Naruto back to his place, and do all the things he had been thinking about for the past two hours.

Naruto was just heading back with a plateful of sushi and shrimp toast when a man's arm snaked around his waist. Not one he recognized.

He felt a wet mouth press to his ear. "I hear you are Sasuke's boyfriend. Damn, you must be some piece of ass for him to give you more than one go. I'd like to have a taste of that."

Naruto calmly set his food down on a table that was in reach, and drove an elbow into the man's gut. "Sorry. I'm not even remotely interested."

He turned to face the man, and saw he was around Itachi's age, with an Armani suit and expensive haircut. The man looked up at Naruto, seemingly unphased by the blow to his gut. "Tough guy, huh? God that's hot. Look, my old man is a very powerful politician. I can offer you much more than your little businessman over there. In every sense."

The man pushed his erection against Naruto's groin, his mouth pressing wetly down on him

From across the room, Sasuke saw the whole scene unfold. He had seen the man approach Naruto from behind just as Sasuke had come out of the bathroom. He had felt his gut clench in jealousy for a split second before Naruto's elbow had connected. Sasuke pushed his way through the crowd, trying to get to Naruto and deal with this asshole. He should never have brought Naruto here... he was too good and too innocent to be subjected to the kind of people that Sasuke dealt with. He saw the man come more forcefully at Naruto, and he broke into a run.

But he needn't have worried, he realized a second later, as Naruto's fist connected with the man's face.

The exquisite violence of the punch was perfect. One minute the guy was leering over Naruto, pressing into him, and then next minute he was laying on the floor, blood pouring out of his broken nose. One of his friends started to make a big fuss about calling the police, but Naruto just leaned closer to him and said something that made the man turn dead white and hastily bend down to pick up his friend and remove him from the party.

Sasuke stood about ten feet away, watching as Naruto calmly wiped the blood off his hand and picked up his food. He looked over at Sasuke, and gave a little shrug, his eyes mischievous. To Sasuke, Naruto seemed to simply glow. In a room full of whores, sycophants, and entitled assholes, Naruto was so different. He wasn't tempted by the easy sex or the money he could get by forming other connections here. He was only interested in Sasuke. Just watching the way that Naruto completely ignored any overtures, subtle or overt, and sought out Sasuke's eyes seemed a minor miracle to him. What had he done to deserve someone like Naruto? He didn't know, but he was going to be sure he spent the rest of his life earning that privilege.

Naruto walked over to where Sasuke stood. "Sasuke... I think I've probably worn out my welcome. Let's get out of here and go home."

"What did you tell that guy that made him walk away?"

Naruto smirked. "I just let him know I was close personal friends with the man who owns their gambling markers. And their fathers' gambling markers."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Had he said Naruto was innocent? No, Naruto wasn't innocent. He was just... Sasuke leaned in and kissed Naruto hard, his lips trailing down his neck, pressing his body against him. "There is no way I can wait until we get home. But I agree we need to get out of here." He pulled Naruto up the stairs and into one of the many empty bedrooms in Suigetsu's house. He wished hazily that they would have time to use all of them. As soon as the door closed, Sasuke was all over him.

"Geez, Sasuke," Naruto panted. "I totally need to get you drunk more often. _Fuck,"_ he gasped as Sasuke's mouth latched onto his neck and his hands palmed Naruto's rapidly growing erection through his jeans.

Sasuke was all business, pulling off Naruto's shirt and unbuttoning his pants in a matter of seconds, then roughly shoving him down backwards on the bed. He immediately crawled on top of him, pulling down Naruto's jeans just enough to free his cock. Before Naruto could even react, he had downed him, taking him all the way into his throat.

"H-holy hell, Sasuke," Naruto felt his body almost seizure at the pleasure and frantic nature of Sasuke's ministrations. It was clear that Sasuke intended to make Naruto come as soon as possible, and Naruto felt no need to deny him. He felt the pressure coiling up in his lower body and erupt, shuddering as Sasuke drank him down.

He had barely caught his breath from climaxing when Sasuke flipped him over and he felt a lubed finger slide into him. _When had he brought out lube?_ Naruto wondered fleetingly as he felt a second finger slide in.

"You're sure in a hurry tonight, Sasuke," he gasped as Sasuke continued to work his fingers until they brushed against the cluster of nerves inside. "Fuck! Yes!"

Sasuke withdrew his fingers and entered in one long, slow thrust, and Naruto heard a ragged groan from his lover. "God, _Naruto_."

Sasuke's mind was completely shut down by the feel of his lover clenched tight around him. _His_ lover. No one else would ever touch Naruto again. It would only be the two of them, just them. Repeating this thought like a mantra, he slowly built up speed and power, thrusting with all the emotion and possessive passion he had felt throughout the night, watching countless people try to catch Naruto's eye, and having those blue eyes only show interest in him. He would never get enough. There could never be enough of this.

"Sas - Sa-su-ke," Naruto was almost beyond speech. "H..harder. _God_ , 'm close."

Sasuke was already complying, his body at its limit and shaking with the impending orgasm. Naruto shouted hoarsely in release just as Sasuke exploded. They collapsed on the bed together, panting and stunned by the ferocity of the coupling. It was unclear how much time had passed before Naruto had collected himself enough to speak.

"So... are you going to tell me what that was all about?" Naruto asked, once he found his voice again. Sasuke just quirked a brow at him. "Not that I am complaining. I mean... god, that was hot as hell."

Sasuke rolled onto his back and closed his eyes, a small satisfied smirk forming on his mouth. "Well... you told me that your fantasy was in the shower with me. This was mine with you."

Naruto thought a bit, and didn't want to connect what Sasuke had just said with what Karin and Suigetsu had let slip earlier. He let his mind just skirt around exactly how Sasuke had acted out those fantasies without him in the past. It didn't matter anymore, anyway. They were never coming back here.

-xXx-

It had been six months since they had last been in Konoha. Konohamaru and Ayame were living with them in Tokyo, and Sai had joined up as Naruto's partner in running the dojo and helping look after the kids. Sai was taking night classes in art, having developed a surprising affinity for painting. Naruto was studying (with extensive help from Sasuke and Shikamaru) for his final exams in two weeks.

But now they were back in Konoha for the wedding. The ceremony was beautiful. The cake was decorated with marzipan shurikan and kunai. Sora and TenTen had gone through their vows, and no one had found it surprising that TenTen had embellished hers to include the slow castration of Sora with every weapon in her considerable arsenal if he ever cheated or left her. Sora had only grinned, and kissed her deeply. It was clear she had nothing to worry about.

At the reception, Naruto was glad to see Kiba and Lee. He hadn't talked to them since he left before high school, and was glad to hear that they were both doing well. Kiba was working as a veterinarian, and Lee was working at a dojo in town as a trainer. They were both excited to hear about Naruto's career as a fighter, but happy for him that he was now finally going back to school to have a more 'normal' life. And there was no small amount of teasing that he and Sasuke had gotten together, which they had heard from Shikamaru.

Naruto was heading over to Sasuke when he bumped into Neji at the refreshment buffet. He had heard more about Neji's uncle through his dealings with the Yakuza, and had a newfound sympathy for the pale man. His uncle was a complete ass. Evidently Neji's father had been worse, but he had been killed in a car accident.

"Hey, Neji. Long time," Naruto said casually.

Neji returned the greeting, and they exchanged a few pleasantries. Neji was about to turn when Naruto's off-handed comment stopped him dead in his tracks.

"I had always thought only Hyuuga's had eyes like yours until I met a girl in Tokyo with exactly the same eyes. Who knew?"

Neji turned and grabbed Naruto's wrist. "You met Hinata? You know where she is?"

In an instant, Naruto's eyes turned to ice. Faster than Neji's eyes could follow, Naruto reversed the grip and had Neji down on the ground. "You fucking asshole. If you are the one who hurt her I swear to god I will kill you right here."

Sasuke materialized at Naruto's side, not showing his confusion at his boyfriend's apparent trip into insanity at accosting one of the most powerful men in Konoha at a public wedding. "I think TenTen will apply her vow of torture to you if you make a scene on her big day, Naruto."

He could see Naruto's hands shake as the man visibly tried to regain control. With an effort he pulled himself off a stunned Neji. Sasuke helped Neji up, trying to diffuse the scene before too many others noticed. It had happened so quickly, that few saw what had actually happened. "They just bumped into each other and fell," Sasuke said firmly, glaring at those around him, daring them to contradict what he was saying. Itachi appeared and reinforced the effort, and before the situation had a chance to get out of control it was over.

Two pairs of dark eyes rounded on Neji and Naruto. "What the hell is going on, Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm waiting to hear from Neji. And depending on what he says, I may or may not kill him. But I won't do it here." Sasuke had never seen Naruto like this except when he was defending one of his kids. Had Neji done something to one of the kids? He felt anger tighten in his own stomach at the thought.

But Neji, to his surprise, was crumbling. "No, I didn't hurt Hinata. God, I would never hurt her. She was my best friend when we were little. My cousin. And I never knew. She never told me. Then one day she just disappeared. And her mother left with her little sister. My uncle... he is a bastard. But he told me... what my father had done. And then my father was killed in that 'car accident', and her mother and Hanabi returned. But Hinata was just gone, and no one could find her. We didn't even know if she were still alive.  Naruto - if you know where she is, will you take me to her? I want her to come home. Please."

Sasuke had never seen Neji look so humble, and so sad. He had known that Hinata had disappeared, but the family had covered it up saying she had gone to a fancy boarding school, then married and moved away. No one had believed it entirely, but no one questioned it either. You don't question the Hyuugas anymore than you question the Uchihas.

Naruto looked at Neji, believing him but not willing to risk Hinata's safety for it. "I will tell her that you want to help her. If she contacts you, then I will support her in that decision. But it will be her choice." Neji didn't like it, but he understood and nodded.

Naruto and Sasuke left shortly after, each lost in their own thoughts. When they got back to the hotel, Sasuke walked up behind Naruto and wrapped his arms around him. "You really need to learn to be more subtle in taking down people who piss you off." Naruto smiled slightly and hummed noncommittally. Naruto turned, slowly undoing the tie of Sasuke's tux.

"Did I happen to mention how fucking hot you looked at the wedding today?" Naruto asked. The black tie slithered from under Sasuke's collar, and Sasuke shuddered at the feel of it around his neck.

"Actually, you didn't." Sasuke leaned in as Naruto began undoing the buttons of his shirt.

"Why don't you let me show you, then."

. . . .

They were both basking in the afterglow much later, with Naruto resting his head on Sasuke's chest.

"The wedding was great. TenTen looked so happy. And the decorations were classic," Naruto laughed lightly.

"Hn. She definitely picked them out. When we get married, you are _not_ doing the flower arrangements."

Naruto froze, his brain locking up at Sasuke's words. "Mmmm. I don't think gay marriage is legal in Japan, though," Naruto tried to keep his voice light, not sure where this was going and trying not to read too much into it.

"I'm not asking the government to marry me, Dobe," Sasuke said, his casual stroking of Naruto's hair belying the intensity of his voice. "All that matters is that it would be real to us."

Naruto lifted his head to look directly into Sasuke's eyes. "Are you asking me to marry you, then?"

Sasuke just looked at him, then slowly drew Naruto's face down to his to kiss him. "Yes," he said softly against Naruto's mouth.

A fierce emotion that was some crazy blend of love, pride, and joy seared through Naruto. He pulled up from the kiss, letting Sasuke read the emotion in his eyes. Naruto grinned cheekily. "I am _awesome_ at picking flowers, I'll have you know."

**The end!**

Thanks for reading to the end of my first fanfic. I hope you liked it! Please comment and tell me what you think. It really means a lot to me to know.


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